Book - Tlx 




COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF 

CREATION 

THE SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY 
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE 
CHRISTIAN AND OF THE WORD 



BY 

GEORGE HENRY DOLE 
Author of Divine Selection, or, The Survival of the Useful, <^c. 



NEW YORK 

THE NEW-CHURCH BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
3 West Twenty-Ninth Street 



"3/. xiS" 
■Hi 



LIBRARY Of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 
NOV 17 1906 

CopyrlehtJEntry 

CLASS ^ 

/^^ - - 
COPY rf. 



XXc.< No. 

7fcr 



Copyright, 1906, 

BY 

George Henry Dole, 



PRESS OF 

J. B. LippiNCOTT Company 

PHILADELPHIA 



SDetiicattott 



TO MY FATHER 

HENRY CLINTON DOLE 

WHO TAUGHT ME AS A CHILD THAT THE 
LORD IS GOD AND THAT HIS 
WORD IS DIVINE 



PREFACE 



If it is thought that religion is dogmatic, and 
for want of reason is unscientific, yet it is equally 
true that science in attempting to explain natural 
phenomena apart from God is equally irreligious. 

Religionists have argued that we must have 
faith to believe, because we do not know; while 
Scientists have asserted that we must know in 
order to believe. The two are not in agreement. 

It is the purpose of this treatise to outline 
briefly the fundamental principles of a philosophy 
that, when introduced into our forms of thought, 
will harmonize science and religion, and open the 
way to progressive thought and intelligent inves- 
tigation of superior causes. It is not presumed 
that this argument will compel belief. To do 
this is neither desirable nor possible. Sufficient 
if it is helpful, or gives to the willing a defense 
against falsities. It is both proper and possible 
for the believing to be provided with an invul- 
nerable system of philosophy. 

Each thought suggested would admit of pro- 
tracted development and extended corrobora- 

V 



PREFACE 



tion ; but in view of the ability to think for oneself, 
which the diffusion of education has made quite 
general, it has seemed best to avoid protracted 
discussion by presenting as brief an outline as 
can well stand alone. 

As far as possible I have avoided the use of 
technical words and terms, that the subject may 
be easily understood by all. I have tried to place 
before the reader the facts and conclusions briefly, 
and in as logical an order as the extent and the 
nature of the subject will permit. This I have 
done without fear of the objections of the Material- 
ists and Sensists, which are too much regarded, 
yet with an effort to consider sufficiently fair 
objection and reasonable inquiry. We should 
not fear to assert the truth because Sensists 
regard as unworthy of notice what can not be 
perceived by the corporeal senses. Let us remem- 
ber that truth has power in itself to accomplish 
its own mission, and that the bare assertion of 
truth is an enlightening power. Rather than 
weary the perceptive reader with what might 
seem protracted or unnecessary argument, I 
have frequently trusted to this fact, and have 
left many points unconfirmed ; and in other cases 
the argument is briefly generalized to avoid lengthy 
discussions of details. Yet I have endeavored 
to substantiate fully the fundamental essentials 

vi 



PREFACE 



of the system of philosophy. In such a work as 
this the application of the principles to extended 
details must necessarily be left to the specialists 
in their respective departments. In a human 
being reason and perception are added to the 
bodily senses. They are better and surer guides 
than sensuous impressions, and I have ventured 
to put in them the confidence that they deserve, 
believing that superior truths when once revealed 
can be supported by reason, and that it is possible 
to comprehend intellectually the first causes in 
science and all the essentials of religion. 

It is well known that materialism and all systems 
of thought that endeavor to build up a philosophy 
without the knowledge and the acknowledgment 
of God and apart from Him, lead into uncer- 
tainty and consequent doubt, into confusion of 
ideas, and to the final denial of the possibility 
of knowing first causes or anything about the 
Creator; and consequently they lead into agnosti- 
cism of such a character that no progress in super- 
natural or supersensual things is possible. If a 
tree may be known by its fruits, any system of 
thought that leads to general agnosticism is 
thereby proved to be false; for agnosticism, as 
we shall observe, is the mental darkness of error. 

It has been quite popular to receive with 
unquestioning faith any thing that bears the 

vii 



PREFACE 



seal of modem science; but there is a general 
feeling that materialistic and sensuous science, 
once so replete with promise, and with v/hich we 
have been satiated to the full, is not able to 
formulate an intelligent or a helpful philosophy. 

In following materialistic reasoning we are 
brought to a line that, we are told, we can not 
pass over. Beyond it is the everlasting unknown, 
and no further advance in that direction is pos- 
sible. This is a proof not of inability to advance 
to a knowledge of higher causes, but of the error 
and inadequacy of the system of reasoning that 
has been followed. With a true system of philos- 
ophy we can advance in height to a knowledge 
of the Creator, and progress laterally without 
limit. The further we proceed with a false 
philosophy, the less progress appears possible, 
and the more uncertain is each step; but the 
more progress made by a true philosophy, the 
greater is the possibility of further advance, 
and the more certain is the knowledge acquired. 



viii 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Preface v-viii 

CHAPTER I. 

Theories of Creation 1-5 

CHAPTER II. 

Evolution 6-28 

CHAPTER III. 
A Summary of the Doctrine of Evolution 29-40 



Organic Life had no Absolute Commencement — 
Organic Life originated solely in Chemical Changes 
due to External Conditions — Evolution is essentially- 
Agnostic and Infidel — The Use of the Theory of 
Evolution. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Science and Religion 41-48 

The Distinction between Science and Philosophy 
— Science will be transferred from the Materialists 
to those who believe in God — Science and Religion 
are fimdamentally a Unit — Creation by Corre- 
spondence. 

CHAPTER V. 

Revelation 49-75 

Revelation is Necessary because Spiritual Things, 
wherein are Causes, are above the Plane of Science 

ix 



CONTENTS 



Revelation — Continued. pack 
and of the Senses — The Truths Fundamental to 
Science are revealed in the Letter of the Word — 
Civilization has ever been Dependent upon Reve- 
lation — Revelation is addressed to Spiritual Facul- 
ties — The Idolatrous and False ReHgions and Super- 
stitions of Ancient Times were not the Beginning of 
Religion, but the Perversion of Previous Revelations 
— The Christian Religion is from a Revelation of 
God Himself in Jesus Christ — How the Word is God 
— The Word is the Product of Growth, and is 
formed to contain Infinite Truth and Love — God 
must be Acknowledged not as the Discovery of 
Science, but as the Object of Revelation — The 
Philosophy of Swedenborg. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Creator 76-104 

Creation necessitates a Creator — Law is in the Crea- 
tor — Quality is in the Creator — The Creator is not 
an Unembodied Force — The Creator is a Substance 
— Intelligence is in the Creator — Life is in the Creator 
— Affection and Thought constitute Human Life, 
and are in the Creator — i . Life is a Form of Activity 
— 2. Affection and Thought constitute the Life of 
the Brain, and consequently of the Whole Body — 
3. In Affection and Thought originates the Life of 
the Whole Body — 4. Life is the Activity of Love — 
5, Love is a Substance — The Creator is Person, Hu- 
man and Man — The Creator is Eternal — The Creator 
is Infinite — The Creator is Omnipotent — The Crea- 
tor is Omniscient and Omnipresent — The Creator 
is Self-Existing — The Creator is very Person, the 
Divine Human, and God-Man — An Adequate Idea of 
God necessitates that He be conceived of as in- 
teriorly in the Human Form — The Human Form 
and Shape should be attributed to tne Creator. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Degrees in Creation 105-133 

Without Knowledge of Degrees Causes cannot be 
understood — Continuous Degrees and Discrete De- 

X 



CONTENTS 



Degrees in Creation — Continued. page 
grees — Homogeneous Degrees and Heterogeneous 
Degrees — Discrete Degrees in Successive Order and 
in Simultaneous Order — The End terminates in the 
Effect and there resides in Fulness and in Power — 
Correspondence — The Natural World is composed 
of Discrete Degrees — Nature's Forces are derived 
from the Spiritual World — The Spiritual World, 
like the Natural World, is composed of an Ordi- 
nated Series of Discrete Degrees of Substance-r-AU 
Activity is derived from the Creator by Corre- 
spondence — The Quality of Influx is determined 
by the Receiving Form — The Maximus Homo or 
• Grand Man. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Design in Structure 134-151 

The Soul is Substantial and an Organized Form — 
Spiritual Forms are illustrated by Natural Forms — 
The Natural Body and Nature are composed of Like 
Discrete Degrees, in Similar Successive Order — 
Nature and the Body receive Activity in a Similar 
Manner — Fimctional Powers of the Body originate 
in the Affections of the Mind — The Soul is ani- 
mated from the Creator — A Diagram of the 
Natural and Spiritual Universe illustrating their 
General Similarity of Form — The Creator is Present 
in the Soul not Bodily, but by Influx — The Uni- 
versal Creation is sustained by Influx from the 
Creator into and through Discrete Degrees — The 
Unity of Plan is Universal. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Human Structure 152-195 

The Soul is the Formative Element in the Natural 
Body, and is a Complex Spiritual Structure — The 
Spiritual Mind is developed in the Same Manner 
that the Natural Mind is — The Inmost is the Most 
Interior Structure of the Human Organization, and 
as Such it is the First to receive Influx from the 
Creator — The Limbus — The Successive Planes of the 
Body are formed from the Coincident Planes of 
Material Substances — The Successive Planes of the 
Soul are formed from the Coincident Planes of Spir- 

xi 



CONTENTS 



The Human Structure — Continued. 

itual Substances — The Life of an Individual deter- 
mines the Particular Form or Internal Structure of 
the Planes of his Being — The Universality of the 
Unity of Plan accommodates Man to the Reception 
of Influx from the Creator through the Coincident 
Planes of the Universe — There are Two Forms 
of Influx, from within and from without — The 
Manner in which Activity passes from the Sun 
to the Earth exemplifies in Detail the Process by 
which Vitality passes from the Creator into the Soul 
-^Each Plane of an Organism and of the Universe, 
receiving Influx, appropriates Power from the 
Infliix and acts as of itself. 



CHAPTER X. 

Sensation 196-200 

Sensation is a Faculty of the Soul, and is produced 
by Influx through the Soul into the Favorably 
Disposed Form of the External Organism — The 
Seat of Sensation is in the Soul. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Natural Forces 201-238 

The Character of Natural Forces is Unknown, and 
Substances are confounded with their Properties, 
because there is no Knowledge of Discrete Degrees 
— Heat is a Form of Activity — The Origin of Heat 
is the Activity of an Atmosphere Interior to the 
Grosser Forms of Matter — The Sun's Heat is due to 
Influx from the Spiritual World — Light — Sight is 
from Mental Light inflowing and meeting the Im- 
pressions made upon the Eye by the Activity of 
Ether — Radiation — Conductors and Non-Conduc- 
tors — Color — Space and Time are Attributes of 
Matter, but they are not Matter itself — Motion — 
Force — Natural Forces are derived from the Cre- 
ator by the Transformation of Divine Force, in 
passing through Successive Discrete Degrees of 
Substance — Gravity is the Activity of the Aura — 
Attraction — Chemical Affinity — Atomicity — Capil- 
larity — Cohesion — Adhesion — Osmosis — Electricity 
is an Activity of the Ether — Magnetism — Spiritual 
Force is within Natural Force. 

xii 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XII. PAGE 

Matter 239-242 

General Knowledge about Matter — How Matter is 
created — ^What Matter is in its Essence. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Relation of Forces 243-258 

The Different Kinds of Forces are but Varied Mani- 
festations of One Force, which, in its Origin, is 
Spiritual — Transference, Transformation, and Gen- 
eration of Force distinguished generally — When 
Transformation of Force takes Place — Transference 
of Force illustrated — What Generation of Force is 
— The Existence of Force in Nature is momentarily- 
Dependent upon Infliix from the Spiritual World, 
and primarily from the Creator — The Forces of the 
Body are from the Forces of Affection and Thought 
— Voluntary and Involuntary Forces 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Organism of Plants and Animals 259-277 

The Spiritual World is the Soul of the Natural 
World — Every Material Object has an Internal 
Spiritual Counterpart, or Soul, that is Analogous 
to the Material Form — Every Thing must in Propor- 
tion to the Degree of its Life reach up by its 
Organization to the Plane from which its Life is 
Derived, and wherein reside the Causes of its 
Organization — The Organic Difference between Ani- 
mal and Man is primarily due to the Superior Degree 
in the Human Form, called the Inmost, and to the 
Internal Mind — Animals have Souls, or Spiritual 
Correlatives of the Natural Body — Plants have 
Corresponding Correlative Spiritual Forms. 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Creation of First Living Forms 278-303 

Essentials for the Creation of First Living Forms — 
The Laws of Creation are now Active on the Planes 
of Organized Living Forms — The First Living Forms 

xiii 



CONTENTS 



The Creation of First Living Forms — Continued. pack 
were created by the Laws that are still Operative. 
Spontaneous Creation — Divine Volition is not Con- 
trary to Natural Law-— Variety of Forms originates 
in the Infinite Potencies of the Divine — The Order 
of Creation was that of Use, which is Reflected in 
Both the Human and the Divine Form— The Internal 
Force develops the External Body into a Form in 
Correspondence with itself — All Things were cre- 
ated through the Law of Correspondence, whereby 
Each is, in a Degree, an Image of the Others and 
of the Creator — Reproduction is from the Con- 
stancy of the Creative Force — The Possibilities of a 
Form are Fixed and Determined by the Potencies 
in the Seed. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Kingdom of Uses 304-309 

The Natural World will endure Forever — Man by 
his Creation becomes Immortal. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Human Form and the Destiny of Man 3i<^~333 

The Particular Constitution of the Human Form 
and its Relation to Creation show that Man is 
created to live Forever — The Three Degrees of 
the Natural Body — The Two Degrees of the Spiritual 
Body — Three Degrees of the Natural Mind — The 
Three Degrees of the Spiritual or Internal Mind — 
The Inmost — The Creator — The Grand Divisions of 
the Human Organism — The Hells are formed from 
those who fail to fulfil in any Degree the Pur- 
poses of Life — The Hells, which are Three, are 
governed by the Lord — The Intermediate World 
— The Purpose of Creation and the Destiny of Man 
— Man is so created that he can be separated 
from the Material Body. 

CHAPTER XVni. 

ExIplanation of Phenomena 334-342 

The Spiritual Part of Man in its Entirety is de- 
rived from the Father; The Material Part is from 

xiv 



CONTENTS 



Explanation of Phenomena — Continued. page 
the Mother — The Crossing of Varieties, and Ster- 
ility — The Multiplication of Animals by Offshoots — 
The Cause of Birthmarks — Why the Human Body 
in its Development resembles the Lower Animals 
— Miracles. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Development of Man 343-356 

Freedom of Choice is an Essential of the Human 
Form — The True Development of Man is the Attain- 
ment of Divine Love from God — The First Civiliza- 
tion was effected through a Knowledge of Spiritual 
Things, and from a Desire to attain the Image 
and Likeness of God, the Creator. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Assumption of the Human and the Glorifi- 
cation OF THE Lord 357-374 

By Means of the Incarnation, God, the Creator, 
took upon Himself the Discrete Degrees of Creation 
that He had put forth beneath Himself — By the 
Glorification the Creator provided Himself with a 
Divine Human, having in it Each Degree of Created 
Life in its Infinitude — The Holy Spirit is the Influx 
of Life from the Creator through the Divine 
Human provided by the Glorification — The Trinity 
is the Creator from Eternity, the Divine Human 
taken on by Glorification, and the Holy Spirit — 
The Glorification of the Human is the Perfect 
Example of Man's Regeneration — The Glorification 
of the Lord effected Man's Redemption — The Word 
is perpetually enlightening and ennobling Hu- 
manity — The Sole Object of Life in the World is 
to accomplish Regeneration for the Perfection of 
the Love of Use and its Blessings. 



XV 



DIAGRAMS 



PAGE 

Diagram 1 149 

The Degrees of the Universe in Successive Order. 

Diagram II 155 

The Human Structure in its Successive Degrees. 

Diagram III 181 

The Similarity in the General Structure of the Uni- 
verse and of Man. 

Diagram IV 312 

The Human Form and the Destiny of Man. 



CHAPTER I. 

THEORIES OF CREATION- 



The theories of creation may be classified under 
two divisions. In the first division are those 
holding that nature in herself is sufficient to 
create and to evolve by the unaided operations 
of her inherent forces. Those who so believe are 
distinguished as Materialists. In the second 
division are the theories maintaining that nature 
unaided is incompetent to create or to evolve, 
and which therefore advocate the existence of 
a supernatural first cause. Their adherents are 
properly called Supernaturalists. The term is 
sufficiently broad to comprehend all who have 
any idea of God, even when He is conceived of 
as a tiniversally diffused substance higher than 
nature. 

The popular theory of the Materialist is that of 
Evolution. The theory of Evolution generally 
understood when the word is used without modi- 
fication as the name of a system of thought, is 
the doctrine of the descent of all species and 
genera of plants and animals from a few primary 
forms, or from one, through the inherent forces 

I 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



of nature, or from the workings of what are called 
laws of Natiiral Selection or of the Survival of the 
Fittest. 

Under the second division, that of the Super- 
naturalist, are embraced many shades of opinion, 
which I have classified in four subdivisions. 
First: there are those who deny that nature 
unaided is able to create or to evolve, yet other- 
wise they concede the reasonings and claims of 
Evolution. These accept Evolution generally, 
but only as God's method of creating; and they 
hold that His intelHgence and directing power 
are ever present as the first cause. 

Second : there are the Creationists, who believe 
in the individual creation of all things by the fiat 
of the Almighty, substantially as they are now. 

Third : there are those who do not believe in a 
personal God, yet advocate the existence of a 
universal intelligence. The forms of thought 
imder this head are too mixed and indefinite to 
admit of classification. Some hold that the 
universal intelligence is an inner realm of nature. 
This would bring them under the first general 
division, that of Materialists. Others hold that 
the universal intelligence is a kind of pervading 
spirit superior to nature ; and others that it is not 
a substance natural or spiritual. What then it is, 
they must answer. 

3 



THEORIES OF CREATION 



The philosophy here to be set forth, creation 
by Correspondence, adds a fourth distinct sub- 
division. The doctrine of creation by Corre- 
spondence, while admitting all of the actual facts 
upon which Evolution is based, thoroughly 
repudiates its philosophy root and branch, and 
every phase and accommodation of it. Yet it 
happily explains the apparent truth of Evolution. 
The facts used to confirm the two theories may 
often be the same, the process of reasoning may be 
similar, their courses may often seem parallel ; still, 
because creation by Correspondence is based upon 
the acknowledgment of God through Divine revela- 
tion, the two theories are in essence exact opposites. 

The theory of creation by Correspondence is 
equally separated from the Creationist's theory, 
because it substitutes for arbitrary fiat the natural 
operation of law, and permits no conclusions that 
are not confirmed by reason. 

The theory of creation by the fiat of the Al- 
mighty has failed to satisfy inquiring minds of 
deeper discernment. Law, order, and develop- 
ment are so related and conjoined that the mind 
will not bring its searchings to an end, and rest its 
reasonings in the belief that God, without the 
observance of laws as revealed in nature, by word 
of mouth called out of nothing the varied forms 
in the universe into existence. 

3 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

Though the Creationist says that God did not 
create out of nothing, but rather out of unor- 
ganized matter, yet whence came that unorgan- 
ized matter and what the laws are by which 
that creation took place remain unexplained. 

The Creationist having failed to throw a satis- 
factory light upon this phase of the question, or 
having substituted arbitrary fiat for law, it is 
not surprising to see this theory being abandoned 
so generally in an age of freedom of thought and 
thirst for knowledge. 

The theory of Evolution qualified by the sup- 
position of the preexistence of a primal germ, 
being practicably inconceivable and the legiti- 
mate conclusions impossible, imposed greater 
difficulties than Evolution pure and simple, 
without offering any satisfactory explanation. 
Consequently it is not without some visible 
reason that to-day we see Evolution in its unquali- 
fied form, which holds that all species are derived 
from a common source through modification in 
descent, displacing all accommodations of the 
theory. 

The doctrine that God from Himself as a 
progenitor evolved all forms of life from a primal 
form, using successively the next lower form as 
a matrix from which the next higher was brought 
forth, is not incompatible with Christianity, 

4 



THEORIES OF CREATION 



because there is the acknowledgment of God as 
Creator and Redeemer, further differences being 
mostly in details of method. Yet as any error 
must lead to some disastrous effect, the theory 
of Evolution however modified, if wrong, must 
work injury. 

The perplexities into which evolutionary reason- 
ings lead may account, in a degree, for the absence 
of clear and consistent views on the subject of 
creation as well as for the darkness that conceals 
the realm of interior causes. Therefore, before 
proceeding to consider the theory of creation to 
be advanced, it may be well to review some of the 
inadequacies of the theory of Evolution. 



5 



CHAPTER II. 

EVOLUTION. 



The Theory Of Evolution Has Its Origin In 
Appearances Of Fact And Truth 
Rather Than In 
Realities. 

The theory held in common by Evolutionists 
is that from the lower organizations came the 
higher, and from the simple forms of life came 
the more complex, by modification in descent. 
The principles of Evolution even thus generally 
stated are without sufficient support to be seriously 
entertained. The theory is purely speculative, 
being based upon close resemblances in the ascend- 
ing scale of forms. There is a graded scale of 
created forms resulting in close similarity on 
dividing lines. This, together with the sugges- 
tions offered by the universality of form or struc- 
ture, is mistaken for evidence that the higher 
are descended from the lower through modifica- 
tions wrought by the operation of natural laws, 
or by creative energy in natural laws. Not only 
is it true that neither nature nor science furnishes 

6 



EVOLUTION 



a proof of this, but it is a fact that every relevant 
law and illustration in nature contradict its 
possibility. The similarity in the ascending scale 
is incidental and unavoidable. Though one 
common plan runs through animal forms, and 
though the human form is shown to be like the 
form of the Crustacea highly developed, it does 
not prove that man is descended from such prior 
forms. This general resemblance is what should 
be expected, if creation is the work of one God, 
whose image in some degree must be wrought 
into every creature. Similarity of structure 
shows a common origin in the one Creator rather 
than derivation from the Monera through natural 
laws, which never vary. 

That the lower forms came first and the higher 
successively and man last, is taken as confirma- 
tory evidence that higher forms came from a 
primal form through modification of functions. It 
is important to observe that the order in which 
things were created came out of the method of 
creating that links all in mutual use, but not that 
the lower might beget the higher. 

As the earth passed through its elementary 
stages, wherein it could sustain only the lowest 
forms of life, to its more nearly finished condition 
suited to man and to himian uses, forms came 
forth adapted to the state of the earth's progress, 

7 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



and suited to the promotion of use. Similarity 
of organic structure and an ascending scale of 
created forms accord with the vast and under- 
lying laws of creation, but in no way do they 
argue that a specific form is used as a progenitor 
of the next higher. 

Natural Law Nullifies The Principles Of 
Evolution. 

Not only are hybrids nonprolific, but they are 
inferior to the progenitor. Nature herself regards 
Evolution as a monstrosity, and she quickly 
concentrates her forces to consummate its possi- 
bility by sterility in the hybrid. If the larva 
produces the butterfly, the butterfly returns in 
genesis to the larva. It travels its circle, but never 
passes out of it. Everywhere nature sets botmds, 
though elastic yet finally impassable, to preserve 
her order. This is in fulfilment of a law univer- 
sally illustrated and without exception, the law 
of "the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind." 

It was thought that the microscope would 
reveal the process of evolution still going on 
among the minute inhabitants of the dust and of 
the stagnant drop; but there likewise nature is 
true to herself. If the agamogenetic produce the 
gamogenetic, in the order of nature agamogenesis 
succeeds. A moneron produces a moneron; a 

8 



EVOLUTION 



prctozoon, a protozoon, but nothing else. The 
form that lives at every joint upon division, when 
severed only reproduces its kind, as in the slipping 
of plants. The graded ascent in created forms 
accompanying the gradual preparation of the 
earth, presents many fallacious appearances seem- 
ing to confirm Evolution, but a single instance 
of a lower form producing a higher is entirely 
wanting. 

It is upon such fallacious evidence that Evolu- 
tion entirely rests. The theory fails not only in 
its ability to account for the distinction between 
protoplasm and the moneron, which are supposed 
to be the same except that the latter is imbued 
with life, and between the highest animal form 
and man, but there are as many missing links as 
there are genera. Suffice it to say here that 
though many truths, or rather facts, are woven 
into the theory, the theory itself is vitally defec- 
tive, the facts, when rightly construed, proving 
the reverse of Evolution. 

It is true that discoveries have been made 
whereby the evidence essential to establish the 
principle of Evolution was supposed to have been 
offered, and they have had their day, like the 
house-building ape"; but upon investigation 
by those less committed to a theory, the mistakes 
appear, and the evidence fails. 

9 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Natural Selection And Survival Of The 
Fittest Controvert The Basic Princi- 
ples Of Evolution. 

Of recent years, when Evolution has felt a 
crying need amidst dearth of facts, some distin- 
guished scientist has reported a startling dis- 
covery promising the missing link; and others 
have been quick to herald the claim that nov^ 
Evolution has found the factor which will restore 
the lost cause. We may expect that the resources 
of Materialists will be exhaustless in this respect. 
But it must ever be the case that the facts will, 
as in the past, be proved fallacious when sub- 
jected to competent and unprejudiced exami- 
nation, and that the deductions will fail. 

Since the theory of Evolution defaults so 
fundamentally, it is not necessary to consider at 
much length the laws of Natural Selection and 
Survival of the Fittest that are used to help it 
out. These laws nullify themselves when applied 
to the derivation of one species from another, 
and render it impossible, if such law^s were in 
existence, for a higher form ever to have sur- 
vived. Sufficient evidence of this exists alone in 
one general principle asserted by Evolutionists 
themselves; namely, that the nearer to unor- 
ganized matter a thing is, the more suited it is 

lO 



EVOLUTION 



to uninterrupted existence. Unorganized matter 
requires the fewest conditions for its existence, 
and in its simplest form it is absolutely inde- 
structible; consequently nothing is so fitted to 
survive as unorganized matter. If Survival of 
the Fittest were a law of nature causing her to 
bring forth that most fitted to survive in the 
struggle for existence, it would never have allowed 
the goats to bring forth sheep or cattle, nor would 
rock have produced grass or any organized form; 
for goats are better fitted to survive than sheep 
or cattle, and rock is less perishable than grass. 
Again, if Survival of the Fittest were applicable 
to the derivation of a higher genus from a lower, 
the natural universe itself never could have 
become organized; for Evolutionists hold that 
eventually its energies will be spent, and that it 
will return to the original nebula. From this it 
appears that nebula is better fitted to survive 
than an organized universe, and that the law of 
Survival of the Fittest would have perpetually pre- 
vented the formation even of an earth. Certainly 
this is a legitimate conclusion if Survival of the 
Fittest were a law applicable to the bringing 
forth of higher genera from the lower. 

It is safe to bear ever in mind that the laws of 
nature are not only as eternal as matter, but that 
they can have no exception, and that if one 

II 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



exception to a stated principle be found, it is 
conclusive that there can be no such principle. 

In What Respect Survival Of The Fittest 
And Natural Selection As The Ex- 
pression Of a Law Are True. 

Evolution, Natural Selection, and Survival 
of the Fittest have been more fully discussed in the 
prologue of this work.^ It has there been demon- 
strated that Natural Selection is Divine Selection, 
and that Survival of the Fittest is the Survival 
of the Useful. Since the prologue is a separate 
publication, it may be serviceable to give here a 
brief statement of some conclusions there reached. 

Nothing is clearer than that among the multi- 
tude of seeds and varieties of plants striving for 
root and room only a few relatively can exist. 
Among animals preying upon one another, and 
contending for existence in times and places of 
scarcity and want and in adverse climate and 
condition, there is a ''struggle for existence." 
And nothing is more certain than that as a rule 
the hardy and strong, which, other things being 
equal, are the best fitted for that struggle, sur- 
vive the longest. But throughout the world's 
struggle, there has been an end in view, the service 



Divine Selection, or, The Survival of the Useful. 

12 



EVOLUTION 



of man. That this end is the motive in the 
creating cause and that it has ruled are proved 
by its realization in present results. This fact 
renders the phrase, Natural Selection, inadequate. 
A full and truthful statement of the law requires 
the greater and nobler term. Divine Selection. And 
since use in the final kingdom of man and of God 
rules throughout, the term Survival of the Fittest 
is likewise misleading and insufficient. The law is 
correctly expressed as the Survival of the Useful. 

Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest 
express one phase of laws ever operative. But 
we must confine the laws to the field where they 
are applicable, and interpret them in the light of 
their higher and final purpose. Natural Selection 
and Survival of the Fittest are true only when 
seen from the standpoint of the interior cause 
that works through these laws, by which cause 
they must be interpreted and modified. Both 
are statements of merely external appearances 
within which is a Divine purpose and cause. 
Through the "struggle for existence," himian 
faculties and energies are brought into com- 
petition and are thereby developed. This devel- 
opment brings man more fully into Divine order, 
for he who is best fitted to survive is the most in 
Divine order. 

Survival of the Fittest, when rightly inter- 
13 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



preted, is seen to be a law of use and a statement 
of the law of Divine economy as well as of Divine 
mercy. It needs no argimient to see that it 
gradually removes the dregs and scum of society. 
It alike consummates the families of the abandoned 
poor and the indulgent rich. The sickly, the 
weak, the indolent, the licentious, the wicked; 
the indulger in anger, revenge, anxiety, jealousy, 
and lust; the violator of any law of the flesh or 
of the spirit, are the first to fall. Thereby they 
are gradually eliminated. The degenerated, weak, 
and sickly can not propagate their kind as do the 
strong and healthy. Survival of the Fittest as 
applied to society simply says that those who 
most fulfil the law of human w^elfare, the law will 
most fuUy save and perpetuate. From this stand- 
point Survival of the Fittest is found to be a law 
of nature, of the spirit, of use, and of God. 

The struggle for existence among the strong, 
active, and wise is a source of inspiration and 
delight through victory over difficulty. It is a 
Divine provision for human growth in vigor and 
happiness. With those who rightly interpret 
and fulfil the law, anxiety, fear, selfishness, and 
sin are gradually left behind in seeking "first 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness" 
whereby ''all" other "things shall be added." 
It is likewise a merciful provision working to 

14 



EVOLUTION 

mitigate the consequences of violated law accom- 
panying the free will of man, for all human suf- 
fering is the effect of the infraction of law at some 
time. Survival of the Fittest also provides the 
minimum of pain to the entire animal kingdom. 
But it is strenuously denied that Survival of the 
Fittest or Natural Selection would ever evolve a 
deer and a wolf, or an ape and a man, from a 
common ancestor; or that without revelation 
from God out of heaven civilization would ever 
supplant barbarism; or unselfishness, selfishness; 
or love, hatred ; or the worship of God, the worship 
of idols or of ancestors. Under no condition and 
by no possible power can the good and the true 
in man be developed out of the evil or false. The 
fatal error that has driven the ship of Evolution 
upon the rocks is that these plainly marked 
buoys along the course have been misplaced by 
the mirage of naturalism, or overlooked in the 
fogs of sodden materialism. 

Because natural laws select the suitable and 
eliminate the unsuitable, provide for the least 
suffering, preserve those in whom life is the great- 
est delight, and conserve the highest use in all 
things, they are moral laws. The moral motive in 
the cosmic process, which is so much discussed 
and sought, is thus everywhere present and 
exemplified in all general results. 

15 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The law of use has not entirely escaped the 
Materialist. For against the theory that duration 
of life is determined by external conditions, 
Weismann^ has argued that the "needs of the 
species " is the determining factor. The " needs of 
the species" is nothing other than the law of use, 
which, if it rules in one case, must be capable of so 
doing in all. 

Natural Selection, so called in distinction from 
selection through human agency whereby superior 
varieties of plants and of animals are developed, 
and Survival of the Fittest must not be regarded 
as the whole of the law or its highest expression. 
Survival of the Useful is a higher law than Sur- 
vival of the Fittest, and guides it. Divine Selection 
is superior to Natural Selection, and is within 
it as the governing cause. Rightly interpreted. 
Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest are 
but the outward and visible expression of the 
workings of Divine Selection and of the all-govern- 
ing law of the Survival of the Useful. 

One Genus Cannot Be Derived From A Dif- 
ferent Genus. 

The inconsistencies and assumptions that the 
theory of Evolution imposes have caused doubts 



^The Germ Plasm. 
i6 



EVOLUTION 



as to its validity even in the minds of its most 
learned advocates ; for it is seen that if there ever 
were laws that evolved one genus from another, 
they have now ceased to act. Notwithstanding the 
varied condition of the earth's surface and the 
myriads of forms now in existence, there is not 
so much as one instance where a lower form 
brings forth a higher. Certainly there ought to 
be some remnant of a law once so omnipresent 
and so persistent through thousands of years. 
Though a change of surroundings and conditions 
may vary a species in a limited degree, of any 
class it may be said that the slightest tendency to 
produce other than its own kind is totally with- 
out evidence. If man sprang from the anthro- 
poid apes, why do these not still give origin to 
himian beings? Certainly they should much 
more readily develop human beings when sur- 
rounded by civilization to lift them up than when 
in primeval forests there was nothing except that 
upon which they could look down. But notwith- 
standing the advantages of surrounding art, 
science, and culture, even when assisted by the 
highest keeping and training of human ingenuity, 
the ape produces only its kind, and that without 
the slightest ascent in the grade of its being. 

If the higher plants came from the lower by 
natural laws, what has become of those laws? 
2 17 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Flora of Egypt some four thousand years old, 
covered by the dry sands, has been brought to 
our view. It differs not as to a grain of pollen 
from the flora of Egypt to-day. Evolution argues 
a perpetual change, but we can go back four thou- 
sand years and show that there has not been the 
slightest variation in the species of certain plants. 
It is true, indeed, that there have been changes in 
the flora of countries ; yet the evidence is not that 
the changes are the effects of Evolution, but quite 
to the contrary. Such changes have been the 
results of radical changes of the earth's condition, 
whereupon a new kind supplanted the former. 
The fact that the law of Evolution does not now 
exist, and has not for several thousand years, 
makes it conclusive that it never did. An obsolete 
natural law is irreconcilable with anything that 
we know or can conceive. 

Since no instance of one genus being derived 
from another is known, and the law of Evolution 
is not now operative, the acceptance of that law 
requires a belief in the existence of a supposed, 
obsolete natural law, in supposed facts to which 
the law is applied, and in a purely theoretical 
application of the supposed law to the supposed 
facts. It would seem as easy to believe in the old 
doctrine of creation out of nothing by the fiat of 
the Omnipotent as to accept a theory based upon 

i8 



EVOLUTION 



hypothetical laws, corroborated by hypothetical 
facts, and supported by a hypothetical applica- 
tion of the hypothetical law to the hypothetical 
facts. 

Variety In Species Is Possible Because Of 
The Component Elements That 
Enter Into The Unit. 

In this connection it may be asked, Are not the 
laws by which so many varieties of pigeons are 
obtained from common parents, and by which 
so many varieties of fruits are cultivated out of a 
wild type, and by which barbarous people become 
civilized, laws of Evolution? Are not such things, 
as has been so elaborately argued, confirmatory 
of the theory of Evolution? Not at all. They 
are instances of the laws of development, which, 
were there such a thing as Evolution, would be 
entirely distinct from it. The laws of development 
are constant, natural, comprehensible, and expli- 
cable. The laws of development now exist, but 
the laws of Evolution are nonexistent, and hence 
impossible in the very nature of things, as will 
presently be shown. 

The development of varieties of species is pos- 
sible because a combination of elements enters 
in to make the character of the common or unde- 
veloped type. This is exemplified by the various 

19 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

phases of character that constitute a human being. 
When people are isolated and brought under 
sufficiently new influences, a particular trait of 
their character is called into action, and a new 
type will result from some special trait becoming 
dominant. So a variety of species may be pro- 
duced by selecting a constituent essential of the 
species and predominantly developing it. It is 
also possible, and to some it seems highly probable, 
that the ability to vary a species is in some cases 
greatly increased by the original creation of 
several or many varieties, which being proximate 
in kind, became mixed and blended in a common 
type. That common type, being composed of the 
elements that united in its formation, must still 
preserve all the primary tendencies in a kind of 
equilibrium that produced and preserves the 
common type. A slight disturbance of that 
balance by the reappearance of a component 
tendency with unusual strength, would cause 
some variation in color or form. Favoring this 
variation would eventually result in the repro- 
duction of a component variety in its primeval 
appearance with more or less accuracy. If it be 
true that the ability to develop variety of species 
is partially due to the early blending of primary 
types, it is evident that there can be produced 
not only the primary types, but also as many 

20 



EVOLUTION 



varieties as there are possible combinations in 
crossing. 

To account for the striking development of 
varieties of pigeons from the common type, it is 
only necessary to assume that in the first place 
not only one variety was formed, but that several 
were created, which eventually blended into one 
kind. This seems possible as we need only to 
remove artificial crossing by the fancier when the 
developed varieties will revert to a common type. 
Yet it is not necessary to assume this occurrence 
of the mixing of varieties, however probable, for 
the pigeon is composed of many essentials or 
traits blended in a common unit. In the pigeon, 
as in many other animals, the traits are marked 
and sensitive to selected breeding. That tenden- 
cies may be selected and developed to the ascend- 
ency is a sufficient explanation of the developed 
variety of any given species. From the wild 
grape or strawberry, developed and varied fruit is 
obtained. Withdraw cultivation, and they quickly 
revert to the wild varieties. The development is 
due to increased nutriment, cultivation, superior 
conditions for growth, and the favoring of selected 
tendencies. It is not due to any extraneous law, 
but is natural to the form itself. The cause of 
the possible development of varieties from com- 
mon parentage now resides in the varied tenden- 



21 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



cies or potencies that enter into the ancestral 
unit. Different varieties are produced from a 
common stock upon the same principle that a 
mathematician, a musician, and a chemist may 
have a common father. The fruit of the straw- 
berry is the product or resultant of multiple 
forces operating in and through the physical 
organization of the plant. Disturb the equilibrium 
of the producing forces by cultivation, soil, 
climate, or external conditions, and a strawberry 
of a different variety may ensue, which the arti- 
ficer can separate, fix, and perpetuate. Some 
plants are necessarily more sensitive to varying 
conditions, permitting vast differences in the 
seeds themselves, and hence in the immediate 
reproduction, as in apples and peaches. Effects 
of long cultivation also enter into the causes why 
these fail to produce their exact variety. Ten- 
dencies that are not in the fruit can not be put 
there, nor can they be brought out, consequently 
there is no principle of Evolution discoverable 
or applicable in development; nor, furthermore, 
is any necessary. An individual plant or animal 
being composed of a collection of potencies that 
together form a unit, just as many faculties form 
a himian character, the varieties that can be 
developed through the selection of its component 
tendencies or constituent potencies and their 



EVOLUTION 



crossings are quite unlimited; yet varieties have 
their limitation at the beginning of a new genus, 
for a raspberry can never be developed from a 
strawberry, nor a grape from a blueberry. 

Development Precludes The Possibility Of 
Evolution. 

Development and Evolution are diametrically 
opposed. The existence of the law of develop- 
ment forbids the possibility of a contemporaneous 
law of Evolution. Experiment in any field, and 
the results will be conclusive. Select a variance 
in pheasants. Cultivation of that variance, how- 
soever far it may be carried, results in only a 
pheasant. If the variance be an unfavorable one, 
the results will be a less perfect pheasant. It will 
have the same appetites, the same habits, with a 
slight variation perchance, and the same nature. 
It will not be a baldheaded eagle nor a bat. 
If the variance be a favorable one, in the end 
there will result a pheasant; but it will be no 
nearer a swan or a bird of paradise. It will be 
only a more perfect pheasant. Herein is the posi- 
tive disprovement of the possibility of the exist- 
ence of the laws of Evolution, for the favoring 
of a variance that may seem to point to a higher 
class does not change the species, but develops 
it. It does not form a new species, but intensifies 

23 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the old. The cultivation of the apple does not 
convert it into a pear. The development of the 
pear will not change it into a peach. In the 
development of the dog there is no approach to 
the horse, to the ape, or to man. By the favoring 
of the superior tendencies in the apple, pear, 
peach, dog, or in any fniit or animal, they become 
simply more perfect forms of their respective 
species. The development of the ape can result 
only in a more perfect ape, making wider the 
distinction between that oft exalted quadruped, 
but vilest of beasts, and man. 

Development therefore is a law of nature, and 
operates in the direction precisely opposite to 
Evolution ; for development intensifies the species, 
while Evolution would change it. Development 
preserves the perfection of species, while Evolu- 
tion would destroy it. 

The civilization of man is not Evolution. It is 
simply the development of faculties which he 
already has, and the cultivation of tastes. The 
civiHzation of man does not turn him into a new 
species; it only makes him a more perfect man. 
In speaking with scientific accuracy there must 
always be this vast difference between develop- 
ment and Evolution, and the terms can not be 
technically used as synonymous. 



24 



EVOLUTION 



The Cause Of The Resemblance Between The 
Higher Animals And Man Is Due To The 
Law Op Correspondence. 

It is natural and inevitable that the ascending 
scale of animal forms should be crowned by 
those in many respects resembling that of man. 
The lower nature of man is animal, hence neces- 
sarily his outward form must resemble that of 
the higher animals. Further, there is a certain 
form that corresponds to or is the natural outbirth 
of the creative forces received by the higher degrees 
in the spiritual world. So, the nearer objects 
come to the reception of the forces of the higher 
degrees, the more will they approach that form 
and resemble each other. Since the human 
form is that which is in correspondence with 
the highest creative forces in the higher degrees, 
the highest or later animal forms must approach 
and resemble it. Yet as there is no animal that 
receives life in the human degree, there is none 
exactly of the human form in any part. It is a 
v/ell-known fact that there is no single bone of 
any animal that can not be distinguished from 
the analogous bone in the human structure. 
The True Theory Of Creation Must Be Con- 
sistent With Itself. 

Since animals are purely and only animal, they 
may, for certain purposes, be classified according 

25 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



to external, bodily appearance; but man has a 
higher nature so distinct from and so superior to 
all animals that he is clearly of an individual 
family. Some writers of more interior perception 
have observed this, and, though admitting Evolu- 
tion in general, have supposed that the Creator, to 
form man, added to the ape, or to an animal body, 
those parts which distinguish him as human. 
Into this view some have been led by the very 
correct observation that "there is more difference 
between him (man) and the orang than between 
the latter and the ground beneath his feet."^ The 
assumption that there was added to a lower animal 
superior or internal parts, and from this man 
was evolved, is itself a contradiction of the 
possibility of Evolution, for if such a special act 
occurred in the final creation of man, why could 
it not occur at each variation? Evolution as 
defined and the theory as promulgated by its 
inventors and advocates, forbid any such infrac- 
tion. Neither is it reasonable to suppose that the 
Creator worked by natural laws, evolving species 
approaching man, that the law failed Him, and 
that He then resorted to a special act of adaptation. 
If man is as high above the orang as the orang is 
above the groimd beneath his feet, the orang 



^St. George Mivart, 19th Century, Aug., 1893 
26 



EVOLUTION 

could be formed instantaneously out of the earth 
without the processes of Evolution as easily as 
man could be formed out of the orang. Conse- 
quently nothing is gained by introducing such 
expediencies into the theory of Evolution. It 
would be simpler to create man outright than to 
create an animal, and then add higher parts to an 
already formed brain. It is impossible to con- 
ceive of such an arbitrary expediency. It is 
purely conjecture, introduced in the hope of 
amending the fatal errors of Evolution. It 
requires greater credulity to accept a theory 
that necessitates such imaginary importations, 
than to accept what it attempts to disprove. 
It is more rational to believe in special crea- 
tion pure and simple than it is to conceive of 
a blending of Evolution and special creation. 
Whatever the law of creation is, it is one con- 
tinuous whole, working in all times and in all 
cases alike in principle. It can not be modified 
by exceptions. It can not fail in one method 
and then adopt another. Creation in the universe 
is as harmonious and continuous as it is in the 
tree, where there unfold by successive, harmoni- 
ous steps, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. 
Spencer, the clearest, strongest, and most consist- 
ent and exhaustive advocate of Evolution, per- 
ceived this, and has, about as well as can be, built 

27 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

up a philosophy according to it. Though he 
presents the most consistent explanation, his 
philosophy fails because it is wrong, and, being true 
to his philosophy, he finally terminates his argu- 
ments in agnosticism, where all Materialists must 
eventually assemble. 



CHAPTER III. 



A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION. 



Organic Life Had No Absolute Commencement. 

For the purpose of having the theory of Evo- 
lution before us in contrast with what is to be 
stated, and to observe what Evolution implies 
and to what it leads, it may be well to review a 
brief summary of its fundamental principles as 
stated by an acknowledged authority. 

Though there are other more distinguished 
investigators, Spencer is unquestionably entitled 
to the rank of the ablest defender of Evolution. 
The following collection of quotations, which 
admirably presents the substance of the theory, 
are from his Principles of Biology. These strong 
assertions, unsurpassed in clearness, frankness, 
and fulness, show the true character of Evolution. 

"Absolute commencement of organic life on 
the globe, I distinctly deny. The affirmation 
of universal Evolution is in itself the negation 
of an absolute commencement of anything. 
Construed in terms of Evolution every kind of 
being is conceived as a product of modifications 

29 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



wrought by insensible gradations on a pre- 
existing kind of being: and this holds as fully 
of the supposed commencement of organic 
life as of all subsequent development of organic 
Hfe."^ 

On the one hand our author assumes, by 
asserting the eternity of matter, what he is in the 
effort to prove. On the other hand he frankly 
denies the beginning of organic life, and then 
proceeds to explain its origin as accomplished by 
insensible gradations on a "preexisting kind of 
being." The explanation is simply put one step 
farther back, and we are no farther advanced in 
understanding until the "preexisting kind of 
being" is accounted for and explained. 

Organic Life Originated Solely In Chemical 
Changes Due To External Conditions. 

The particulars of the origin of organic matter 
according to Evolution, are well set forth in the 
following. "That organic matter was not pro- 
duced all at once, but was reached through 
steps, we are well warranted in believing by 
the experiences of chemists. Organic matters 
are produced in the laboratory by what we 
may literally call artificial Evolution. Chemists 



iPage 482. 

30 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



find themselves unable to form these complex 
combinations directly from their elements; but 
they succeed in forming them indirectly, by 
successive modifications of simple combinations. 
In some binary compounds, one element of 
which is present in several equivalents, a change 
is made by substituting for one of these equiva- 
lents an eqtiivalent of some other element; so 
producing a ternary compound. Then another 
of the equivalents is replaced, and so on. For 
instance, beginning with ammonia, NH3, a 
higher form is obtained by replacing one of the 
atoms of Hydrogen by an atom of Methyl, so 
producing Methyl- Amine, N(CH3H2); and then, 
under the further action of Methyl, ending 
in a further substitution, there is reached the 
still more compound substance, dimethyl-amine, 
N(CH3)(CH3)H. And in this manner highly 
complex substances are built up. * * * * 
The progress toward higher types of organic 
molecules is effected by modification upon 
modification; as through Evolution in general. 
Each of these modifications is a change of the 
molecule into equilibrium with its environment — 
an adaptation, as it were, to new surrounding 
conditions to which it is subjected; as through 
Evolution in general. Larger or more integrated 
aggregates are successively generated ; as through 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

Evolution in general. More complex or hetero- 
geneous aggregates are so made to arise, one out 
of another; as through Evolution in general. 
A geometrically increasing multitude of these 
larger and more complex aggregates so produced, 
at the same time results; as through Evolution 
in general. And it is by the action of the succes- 
sively higher forms on one another, joined with 
the action of environing conditions, that the 
highest forms are reached ; as through Evolution 
in general. * * * the early world, as 

in the modern laboratory, inferior types of 
organic substance, by their mutual action under 
fit conditions, evolved the superior types of 
organic substances, ending in organizable pro- 
toplasm. And it can hardly be doubted that 
the shaping of organizable protoplasm, which 
is a substance modifiable in multitudinous 
ways with extreme facility, went on after the 
same manner. * * * Protein is capable 
of existing under probably at least a thousand 
isomeric forms, and is capable of forming, with 
itself and other elements, substances yet more 
intricate in composition that are practically 
infinite in their variety and kind. Exposed to 
those innumerable modifications of conditions 
which the earth's surface afforded, here in amount 
of light, there in amount of heat and elsewhere 

32 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



in the quality of its aqueous medium, this ex- 
tremely changeable substance must have under- 
gone now one, now another of its countless 
metamorphoses. And to the mutual influence 
of its metamorphic forms under favoring con- 
ditions, we may ascribe the production of the 
still more composite, still more sensitive, still 
more variously changeable portions of organic 
matter, which in masses, more minute and sim- 
pler than existing Protozoa, displayed actions 
verging little by little into those called vital 
actions, which protein itself exhibits in a certain 
degree, and which the lowest known things 
exhibit only in a greater degree."^ 

We are impelled to ask a question that seems 
pertinent, suggested by the first lines of the 
paragraph. If organic life had no absolute com- 
mencement, how could organic matter be reached 
"through steps"? Would not the commence- 
ment of organic matter be also the commence- 
ment of organic life? 

When the Evolutionist has thus accounted for 
the origin of the lower life-forms, it is easy to 
assume the formation of the higher by the con- 
tinued action of the same laws producing modi- 
fication of function through infinitesimal changes. 



^ Principles of Biology, pp. 482-484. 
3 33 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



It should be observed, though, that the point to 
be proved is assumed as the basis of the demon- 
stration, namely, "a preexisting kind of being." 
Until this is explained, there is absolutely no 
light thrown upon the subject. 

Evolution Is Essentially Agnostic And 
Infidel. 

It may be profitable to notice here the essential 
character of Evolution. It will be observed from 
the above quotations that nature alone is made 
to work the evolution by combination of material 
substances. In this there is a latent denial of 
a specific Creator. Life is regarded as nothing 
higher than that activity which exists among 
material molecules "verging little by little into 
those called vital." Hence there is a denial of 
life from the Creator. Though there is no open 
rejection of a Creator, it can not be controverted 
that there is an absolute and positive rejection 
and denial of Him, for life in the first instance is 
made to consist of the activity of the particles 
of matter due to potencies inherent in matter, 
and higher forms of life are argued to be a product 
of evolution derived from matter by its taking 
on a more complex activity. Animal forms are 
regarded as nothing other than a particular 
arrangement of particles and kinds of matter 

34 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



"shaped" by external forces, whereby there is a 
denial of any supernatural form, or soul. Func- 
tional activities are concluded to be but proper- 
ties of highly organized and complex molecules, 
whence there is a negation of anything other than 
matter, or higher than the material plane. This 
is the central error of Evolution, which, though 
pleading agnosticism in regard to supernatural 
forces, a spiritual world, and a Creator, actually 
rejects them, and levels all down to the plane of 
nature. 

As to the compromise theory held by some, 
that there is a God, and Evolution is His method, 
it may be that such a theory is less hurtful to 
states of faith, but as a rational or a scientific 
theory it is confronted by the insurmountable 
objection that, like Evolution pure and simple, 
it has no facts to sustain it. If Evolution were in 
the main scientifically or assuredly demonstrated, 
such a theory might be held with some degree 
of plausibility. Yet, if Evolution were true, there 
would be no need of a Creator. The theory of 
Evolution is essentially such that it denies and 
forbids those modifications of it made by thought- 
less but well-meaning persons to adapt the theory 
to certain religious tenets. A theory that derives 
the universe from a natural basis, the Creator 
being regarded totally unknown and unknowable, 

35 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



can in no degree be reconciled with one that 
gives it a spiritual origin in deriving it from the 
Creator. 

Evolutionists nowadays do not openly deny 
the existence of a Creator. It has become their 
custom to say that they do not know, and so do 
not deny or affirm. But we should not be misled 
by this apparent frankness, for they proceed to 
reason and to build up a theory the same as though 
they avowedly denied His existence. That there 
is actual rejection of a Creator, is clearly evident 
from the former quotations and the conclusion 
drawn from them, namely, that "We must infer 
that a plant or animal of any species is made up 
of special units, in all of which there dwells the 
intrinsic aptitude to aggregate into the form of 
that species : just as in the atoms of a salt, there 
dwells the intrinsic aptitude to crystallize in a 
particular way. * * * * Groups of units 
taken from an organism (providing they are of 
a certain bulk and not much differentiated 
into special structures) have this power of re- 
arranging themselves; and we are thus compelled 
to recognize the tendency to assume the specific 
form, as inherent in all parts of the organism."^ 
If in the atoms of salt there dwells the intrinsic 



^ Vol. I. Principles of Biology, p. i8i. 
36 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



aptitude to aggregate into the form of that body, 
what need is there of a Creator from whom such 
aptitude may be derived extrinsically? Evolu- 
tion therefore by the very principles upon which it 
is based forbids those so-called accommodations 
of it. 

It can not be urged that God created a few sim- 
ple forms, and then developed the higher from 
these by the process of Evolution, for the claims 
of Evolution itself prevent the possibility of 
such a commencement. Nor can the theory of 
Evolution be reconciled by complementing the 
"struggle for life" with a second factor, the 
"struggle for the life of others," as Drummond 
attempts in his Ascent of Man. The difficulty 
is further back than this. A careful consideration 
of the theories of Evolution in their varied forms, 
will disclose the fact that Evolution alone in its 
unqualified form is in any degree consistent 
with itself„ It really meets with less difficulty, 
and is, from a scientific standpoint, at once seen 
as the most plausible. Its modified forms adopted 
to bridge difficulties only make wider chasms, 
and introduce greater perplexities. 

I am well aware that in the minds of some, 
who have been pleased with certain presentations 
of evolutionary thought, will arise the objection 
that, in dealing with Evolution in general, I 

37 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

have not met their particular tenets, or have 
overlooked some special or later writer. It does 
not seem necessary to take up separately each 
modified form of Evolution, because all of its 
modifications, which are about as numerous as 
the writers on the subject, have the fundamental 
errors of Evolution in general within, though 
the errors may be more deeply hidden or the 
theory more tactfully presented. As theories 
they are but different tentacles of the same 
invertebrate. 

The Use Of The Theory Of Evolution. 

Greater liberty of thought has been claimed in 
behalf of Evolution, but as we see its develop- 
ments, the character of knowledge it offers, and 
the conclusions to which it finally leads, we can 
not fail to observe that it imposes a mental 
bondage more disastrous than that of the religion- 
ists of the past. It is more disastrous, because 
the bonds imposed by religious dogma were 
capable of being broken, as they are to-day; but 
the fetters of agnosticism in regard to all things 
higher than what appeals to the senses, we are 
told, can never be removed, because the First 
Cause must be forever wrapped in the darkness 
of "total ignorance"; "and the man of science 
sees himself in the midst of perpetual changes 

38 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



of which he can discover neither the beginning 
nor the end." ^ While on the one hand reHgion 
of the past forbade freedom of thought, evolu- 
tionary science that so accuses religion, would 
take away its possibility. There is no prison so 
painful or rack so excruciating as that state of 
intellectual and spiritual bondage that would 
await the world were we obliged to accept the 
issue of these words: "Though the analysis of 
mental action may finally bring him (man) 
down to sensations, as the original materials 
out of which all thought is woven, yet he is a 
little forwarder; for he can give no account 
either of sensations themselves or of that some- 
thing which is conscious of sensations."^ Yet 
we would not derogate the works of such great 
scholars. They have served the cause of truth 
in a negative way. They have brought out many 
valuable facts, stimulated thought, and broken 
down dogmatic barriers. They have done a 
greater work than this. They have demonstrated 
that the realm of causes can not be discovered 
by going "down to sensations"; that modern 
scientific methods of their kind are totally inade- 
quate to the discovery of any substance or form 

^ Spencer. First Principles. P. 66. 
39 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



superior to the ponderable; that their results 
utterly fail to respond to the universal longings 
of the human mind, rewarding the most hopeful 
and earnest effort with the despair of agnosticism. 
They have touched bottom in the downward 
investigation, and have revealed to the world 
that there is no light in that direction. We need 
not waste time to travel that way again. It is a 
warning therefore to us and to those to come who 
would investigate causes, and obtain an enlight- 
ened understanding of the universe, that no prog- 
ress can be made by commencing with nature, 
the lowest, and looking downward. 

The uses of the theory of Evolution are there- 
fore negative. It is a Reductio ad Ahsurdum 
process, by which the opposite is demonstrated. 
It must serve only as the background of dark, 
upon which shall be painted a picture of light. 



40 



CHAPTER IV. 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 



The Distinction Between Science And Phi- 
losophy. 

The human mind is such a form that it can, 
by the use of its higher faculties, ascend above 
the plane of seeing effects to that of the perception 
of causes. 

Without the knowledge of causes there can be 
no philosophy. Philosophy is not the facts 
of science coordinated. Extend science however 
much, it will not produce philosophy. Philos- 
ophy is superior to science as reason is superior 
to the facts of which it is the interpreter. The 
extension of one step will not make a flight of 
stairs. Something more must be added. So to 
science, which treats of effects, the perception 
of causes must be added to obtain philosophy. 
The philosophy of a thing comprehends the 
relation of its cause and its effect. The facts of 
philosophy constitute science. It is a scientific 
truth that the ocean currents move westward at 
the tropics. A knowledge of the mobility of the 

41 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



molecules of water, of the rotation of the earth, 
of temperatiire, of the action of the moon and the 
sun, of the contour of coasts, of the deflection of 
currents, of the curvature of the earth, of the 
principles of momentimi, and the like, is the 
means of perceiving the causes of currents. In 
the degree that the causes are explained we have 
the philosophy of currents. 

Certain laws secure in society liberty and equal 
rights, and preserve peace. These laws, together 
with the method of enforcing them, constitute the 
science of government. There are causes for 
having such laws; namely, that the arts and 
sciences may be cultivated; that schools and 
moral institutions may exist where people are 
trained for mutual use ; that the form of advanc- 
ing civilization may be preserved, and love and 
wisdom bless all with the fulfilled purposes of 
creation. These things are of the philosophy of 
government, and constitute the causes of it. 
The laws according to which the cause operates 
or is executed constitute the science of govern- 
ment. 

So let us this early distinguish clearly the 
degrees of altitude that exist between cause and 
effect, between philosophy and science. Science 
finds its higher use in philosophy, for by science 
philosophy is confirmed, whereby wisdom is 

42 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION 



obtained, and man is enabled to live in a higher 
and more perfect state. 

It is proposed to show that man is a form com- 
posed of a succession of planes reaching upward 
coincident with creation, and so organized that he 
may ascend upon the successive planes of his own 
constitution, and from each plane investigate 
the corresponding plane in creation, and at last 
obtain definite and positive knowledge of the 
great First Cause. This can not be done by 
science alone. Yet by philosophy, of which 
science is a servant and tool, such knowledge, 
when once revealed, may be confirmed; and 
it may be seen to be of a no less certain character 
than science itself. 

Science Will Be Transferred From The 
Materialists To Those Who Believe 
In God. 

The assiduous labors of IVIaterialists in ' the 
field of science, have contributed many valuable 
facts for the use of philosophy. But in their 
philosophy they have made such use of the facts 
that they have travelled the circumference of 
a circle to the place of beginning, a state of 
agnosticism. Yet the last state is w^orse than the 
first, for they have returned with their minds 
swept of all genuine truth, and with the hopeless 

43 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



conviction added, that they can not know first 
causes. 

The supreme use of science is to aid in the 
acquisition of spiritual truths, whereby God is 
revealed. Genuine scientifics act as mirrors in 
which images of interior things appear. But 
w^here science is so falsified that it ascribes the 
origin of creation to the atom and to nature, no 
similitude of interior things remains, and spiritual 
truths perish. Spiritual truth can not be restored 
prior to a right interpretation of scientific truth, for 
genuine scientifics provide an external image, with- 
out which, ideas of spiritual truths can not exist. 

Therefore it is that for the restoration of the 
liberty of mind, the advancement of science, the 
development of philosophy, the acquisition of 
spiritual truth, and the elevation of mankind, 
science must be transferred to those who will lift 
their minds above the merely sensual and 
material to the acknowledgment and comprehen- 
sion of God. 

Science And Religion Are Fundamentally A 

Unit. 

Science and religion are not, like truth and 
falsity, antithetical. Truth can not be opposed 
to truth. Science is the lower order of truth. 
Religion appertains to the higher order of truth. 

44 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION 

It is essential at the outset to distinguish different 
degrees of truth as well as of substances. There 
is earth, air, and ether illustrative of successively 
higher degrees. There are scientific truths, civil 
truths, and spiritual truths. The truths of natural 
science are the lowest, for they appertain to the 
earth, matter, and material forms. If man lives 
in harmony with natural science, it will be con- 
ducive to health. Civil truths are of a higher 
order for they govern the relations of men. If 
all live according to these, there will be added 
to health liberty, peace, and the profits and pleas- 
ures of social intercourse. Spiritual truths are 
still higher, for they govern motives, and cleanse 
the mind from injurious thoughts and desires. 
They bring, in addition to health and the profits 
of orderly civil life, purity of mind and heart and 
the consequent deeper and sweeter joys of life. 
Yet in no way are scientific, civil, and spiritual 
truths antithetical. Indeed, they are mutually 
helpful, one augmenting the other; for one can 
not exist in any degree of fulness without the 
other. They serve one another as do the bones, 
the muscles, and the nerves in the body. The 
science of religion, in the . broadest and most 
complete form, embraces all these kinds of truths. 
The philosophy of religion may be properly 
considered as composed of all degrees of truth 

45 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

coordinated on their respective planes, and ar- 
ranged in successive degrees according to their 
natural order. Religion itself is the science and 
philosophy of religion, together with a life accord- 
ing thereto. Dogmas, fanaticism, and sectarian- 
ism have been called religion, and well has the 
science of this day remonstrated. But such 
religion is practically of the past, and science 
and true religion must eventually be found 
united, as the works of God must be, in perfect 
concord and mutual service. Religion in its 
broadest sense is commensurate with Divine 
truth and life, but for convenience we may speak 
of science as appertaining to nature, and religion 
to God. The belief that religion is a statement 
of faith belongs to the past. Religion is truth and 
life from the Creator operative in man. When 
religion is made such, it is at once conclusive 
that religion and science are but the upper and 
lower parts of one thing, which one thing is as 
harmonious as the soul and the body. Indeed, 
religion is the soul of science, and without 
religion science has no soul, and can not exist 
in any true sense. 

Creation By Correspondence. 

The doctrine of creation according to the law 
of Correspondence, by which we shall endeavor 

46 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION 



to explain causes, is at once consistent with facts, 
experience, nature, reason, and revelation. It 
is in harmony with all true principles of science 
and of religion. 

The doctrine can not be resisted on the grounds 
that it is hypothetical, for it must be remembered 
that natural philosophy is largely hypothetical, 
particularly in regard to sound, heat, and light. 
The hypothetical enters extensively into higher 
mathematics, and chemistry is based upon the 
hypothetical atom. In fact without the hypo- 
thetical, there would be but little of philosophical 
science. The explanation based upon hypothesis 
being reasonable, the hypothetical is properly 
granted, and taken as true. This is an every- 
day occurrence with the scientist, with which 
he should be too familiar to oppose at the outset 
a theory that to him might at first glance appear 
hypothetical. Yet the doctrine of creation by 
Correspondence is not in any field of reasoning 
hypothetical. The main argument will be suffi- 
ciently supported by invulnerable rational truth. 

Evolution and the doctrine of creation by 
Correspondence are exact opposites, both in sub- 
stance and in method of development. Evolu- 
tion begins with the atom, or with forces operative 
in nature, like gravity, attraction, and chemical 
afB.3iity; and ascends. The doctrine of Corre- 

47 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



spondence commences with the Creator, and 
descends. It is like the inner vesture of the 
Lord, "woven from the top through." Each 
method is like its theory, the one deriving creation 
from a natural force working upward, while the 
other offers a solution from a supernatural force 
working downward. Yet as the descending 
supernatural force returns in ascending creation. 
Evolution may be regarded as a substantially 
correct presentation of how the supernatural 
force appears while operative in nature; or in 
other words, Evolution is the apparent truth, as 
is the statement that a stick is bent upon immer- 
sion in water, or that the sun rises and sets. It 
is the apparent truth that has given Evolution 
its present credence. 

Since the science of to-day is forced to the 
conclusion that it can not discover or explain any 
interior or supernatural cause, we are next led 
to consider revelation, the origin of all knowledge 
of interior causes and of genuine philosophy. 



48 



CHAPTER V. 



REVELATION. 



Revelation Is Necessary Because Spiritual 
Things, Wherein Are Causes, Are 
Above The Plane Of Science 
And Of The Senses. 

The physical senses are not capable of per- 
ceiving spiritual things, or what is superior to 
nature. They can comprehend only what ad- 
dresses them on the plane of their own organiza- 
tion. The investigation of spiritual things by 
science destroys the mind's vision, for in so doing 
the sensual is made the principal, when in reality 
it is only instrumental. Spiritual truths must 
be received by revelation. It is the office of 
science and reason to confirm revelation. 

The causes of things in nature, the soul, the 
spiritual world, and God are impalpable and non- 
revealable to the senses. None of these, there- 
fore, can be found out by merely human searching. 
Nor can human reason aided only by science and 
sensual knowledge ascend to them, for reason, 
without a guide superior to itself, would follow 

4 49 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the outward appearance rather than the inward 
reaHty. Touching the Almighty, we cannot 
find Him out," for spiritual things are the subject 
of revelation only. 

Since nature receives influx of force from an 
invisible source, and each of its degrees appro- 
priates that force and acts as of itself on its own 
plane, the outward appearance is that nature 
creates and sustains of her own self. If influx 
into nature is disregarded, and matter alone is 
taken into account, there is no other resort than 
to believe that nature of herself has power to 
form and create from inherent force. Reason 
unassisted by an intelligence superior to itself 
looks to the senses, and follows downward to 
nature, the plane of effects, and away from the 
true source of causes and of higher intelligence. 
Consequently things superior to nature can, in 
the first instance, come into thought and become 
known only through some form of revelation. 

The Truths Fundamental To Science Are 
Revealed In The Letter Of The Word. 

In the literal sense of the Word, when rightly 
understood, may be seen the fundamentals of 
all genuine scientific truths, which, being taken 
from nature and declared in the Word, act as 
a fountain from which flow all truths of science. 

50 



REVELATION 



Into the truths of the Hteral sense of the Word 
influx from the Lord comes, illuminating and 
illustrating the entire scientific plane. All truth 
is derived from without, and comes to the under- 
standing. All good comes from within through 
the will, which flows down into the understanding, 
and there operates according to the truths of 
faith derived directly or indirectly from the 
Word. Since all genuine science superior to 
merely experimental facts is from light derived 
from the Word, the Word is the only interpreter 
of the experimental facts. It never would have 
been imagined that there is a God, if the Word 
did not teach the ''I Am." Nothing other than 
that nature created herself would have been 
possible to conception, if it were not declared 
in the letter of the Word that "God created the 
heavens and the earth." We never could have 
had any other idea than that the creating power 
is the ''inherent aptitude" of atoms, if it were 
not declared in the letter of the Word that Divine 
truth is the creating power. "By the Word of 
the Lord were the heavens made, and all the 
hosts of them by the breath of His mouth." 
It never would have been imagined that anything 
other than Natural Selection brought forth the 
higher forms from the lower, were it not revealed 
in the letter of the Word that God created each 



51 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



thing ''yielding seed after its kind"; nor would 
the human family have differentiated itself from 
the apes, if it were not revealed by the Word 
that "God created man in His own image"; 
nor would it come to mind that man is a soul and 
has a body, if it were not taught in the letter of 
the Word that God created man a "living soul"; 
nor would it be thought other than that death 
ends life, if the Word did not teach that " all live 
imto Him ' ' ; nor would the existence of a spiritual 
world be thought of, if the Word did not declare 
the " Father's house " of " many mansions " ; nor 
would man ever surmise the purpose of his crea- 
tion, did the Word not reveal that he is created 
to receive love and wisdom from God, and the life 
everlasting; "I have created him for My glory." 

However startling the assertion may seem, 
it is nevertheless true that the theory of Evolution 
could never have been developed or conceived 
were the fundamentals of science not revealed 
in the Word, for Evolution has its origin in the 
natural man hearing genuine truths from the 
Word, and then inverting them. Materialistic 
philosophy is derived by ingeniously inverting 
truths from the Word, and there is not one princi- 
ple in the entire system, ranging from the alpha 
of chemistry to the omega of ethics, the reverse 
of which can not be found in the Word. For in 

52 



REVELATION 



the letter of the Word are provided all the truths 
fundamental to science, into which interior 
truths are to be insinuated. As one is provided 
with genuine truths from the Word, and has 
faith in them, spiritual light flows into the natural 
mind, and illuminates it, enabling the investigator 
to see scientific truths and facts not merely as 
they fallaciously appear, but as they really are, 
and to give them their place in true philosophy. 
Without such light it can not be concluded other- 
wise than that creation originated in the fortu- 
itous concourse of atoms, and that life is due to 
the complexity of structure formed by such 
concourse. 

Civilization Has Ever Been Dependent Upon 
Revelation. 

The necessity of revelation, by which is meant 
a Divine dispensation of truth that imparts to 
man in the first instance true thought concerning 
nature and things superior to it, is emphatically 
illustrated by our present conditions. The modern 
development of civilization emanates specifically 
from the revelation made through Christ. Though 
our Scripture, the Word, is doubted, materialized, 
literalized, and misunderstood, the vast amount 
of moral good and moral law revealed to the 
world through it is the certain and only basis 

53 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



of modern civilization. The Word thus becomes 
the source from which proceeds the spirit of all 
progress both scientific and religious. This may 
seem to be a too comprehensive declaration, 
yet it is substantiated by the fact that where the 
Christian revelation is permitted there is progress ; 
but where it is not there is barbarism, stagnation, 
or retrogression. Inventions excel with those 
nations that have religious liberty and the freest 
access to the Word, because the faculty of in- 
vention draws its light from the general sphere 
of light emanating from the Word by means of 
those who have faith in it. 

The Mohammedan civilization, vastly superior 
to the idolatrous conditions preceding, likewise 
originated in a revelation, what is good in it 
being taken by Mohammed from the Word and 
adapted to the states of a people and to the accom- 
plishment of its purpose. 

The Jewish civilization surpassed in the char- 
acter of its worship the surrounding nations. 
Though its worship was similar in many respects to 
theirs, yet in others it was so distinct as to render 
it impossible for it to have been developed from 
any prior religion. When the Jewish doctrines, 
worship, and state are compared to those of other 
peoples, the teaching of the Word, that they grew 
out of revelation through prophet and seer, is the 

54 



REVELATION 



only possible conclusion consistent with reason. 
It is the unvarying record of history that every 
distinctly new dispensation of superior truth 
and life proceeded from prophet or seer, or from 
some form of revelation, which corroborates the 
conclusions of reason and the declaration of the 
Word, that knowledge superior to nature must in 
the first instance be revealed. So strongly had 
the practical truth of this fact impressed itself 
upon the minds of all people, that when the 
channels of true revelation became closed through 
profaning it, and the consequent falling away 
from Divine order ensued, even in most heathen 
times revelation was sought through the consulta- 
tion of oracle and as coming from God or from 
the spiritual world. 

That instruction by means of dreams and 
visions was once common, and reliable because 
from the Lord, and that the Lord talked with 
people ''face to face," is evident from the Word. 
The primeval condition and states of man made 
it possible for all to be instructed by the influx 
of life and truth directly from the Creator, and, 
afterwards, when the heavens were formed, 
through the angels, whereby the mind of each 
was opened to receive true love, and to perceive 
its character and the law of its operation. Such 
revelation would necessarily carry with it the 

55 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



disclosure of Divine laws, the knowledge of a 
spiritual world, life after death, and the kind of 
life here that is the best preparation for eternal 
uses. Such would constitute a revelation whereby 
there might be rapid development to a highest 
form of civilization, the essentials of which in 
all cases are the knowledge of God and the 
observance of His laws. It is evident from the 
Word that not until the decline of the first 
civilization, was open communication with heaven 
and the Lord closed, and revelation confined to 
prophet, seer, and the written Word. 

The worship of God is essentially the aspiration 
for His qualities, which could not have taken 
place prior to revelation of Him. The existence 
of worship necessarily implies a prior revelation 
of the Divine Being, and since there is no race of 
people without a form of religion, or a time known 
w^hen there was not some knowledge of God, the 
evidence of all historic records, that the revelation 
of God was coeval with the creation of man, is 
in every way substantiated. Not only most 
clear and positive, but actual and extensive data 
must be brought forth to merit attention in contro- 
verting the evidence of all history and the natural 
inference from the world's practice and testimony, 
that the knowledge of goodness and truth is of 
Divine origin and primarily derived from revelation. 

56 



REVELATION 



Again, as it is evident that man can not find 
out God by his own searching, and as the object 
of human existence is, in the Scriptural sense, to 
know God, and thereby to receive from His wis- 
dom and love, it is not possible that God would 
create a race without revealing Himself to it ; for 
in so doing He would not only fail in providing 
for His own children, but by neglect He would 
defeat His own design. 

There is something peculiarly inconsistent in 
the tenets of Materialists who upon the one hand 
avow that God is absolutely unknow^able, and 
upon the other that religion is a product of Evo- 
lution. Indeed one assertion contradicts the other, 
for religion is nothing other in its essence than the 
knowledge and worship of God, who is absolute 
love and wisdom or goodness and truth, and the 
only source of these things as they exist with man. 
They are led to think of God as absolutely un- 
knowable because the knowledge of Him sur- 
passes the ability of the senses to grasp, yet in 
some way they must account for the knowledge 
of Him that the world possesses. 

Revelation Is Addressed To Spiritual 
Faculties. 

It is true that if the knowledge of God depended 
upon evidences procured by the natural faculties 

57 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



unaided by revelation, God would be absolutely 
unknowable. But the knowledge of God does 
not rest upon such a basis; it depends rather 
upon revelation as expressed in the Word, which, 
when rightly understood, neither negates correct 
sensual evidence nor controverts genuine reason. 

It may here be remarked that the highest use 
of reason is to confirm revelation, and all genuine 
revelation, when correctly understood, is accept- 
able to reason. There may be many who deny 
revelation and also the possibility of knowing 
God. As for themselves they may rightly speak, 
but for them to say that God is absolutely un- 
knowable to others is beyond their power to 
discern. The evidence of the millions to-day 
and of the past who bear witness to the knowledge 
of God revealed to the mind and in the heart 
and in the affairs of men and in the Word, is 
unimpeachable and irrefutable. 

It is not claimed that God is wholly compre- 
hensible, that the finite can comprehend the 
infinite; but that an infinite God can and does 
reveal something of His truth, life, and nature to 
man, not abstracted from Himself, but as coming 
from Him. If God were unable to make finite 
presentation of Divinity, He would not be in- 
finite. If even a few men of sound minds and good 
lives say that God manifests Himself to them 

58 



REVELATION 



in the Word, or in their souls, or in His provi- 
dence, the declaration of whole planets of men 
who declare God to be unknowable to them is of 
no possible worth against the evidence of one who 
says I see, I feel, I know. There is the faculty 
of mental vision that sees in the light of truth; 
the faculty of mental hearing that understands 
from harmony; the faculty of keen-scented 
perception that detects ; the faculty of conscience 
that feels, and there is the organic heart-sense 
that can taste. In the mind there are faculties 
corresponding to the senses of the body that 
enable one to cognize spiritual things as the 
corporeal senses do material things. If we do 
not know these faculties, it is because we "have 
ears to hear" that ''hear not," "eyes" to see that 
" see not, " and understandings that do not "under- 
stand." Such faculties do exist, and they are 
far more certain in their use than are the corporeal 
senses, which unaided by revelation are subject 
to every illusion. 

The Idolatrous And False Religions And 
Superstitions Of Ancient Times Were Not 
The Beginning Of Religion, But The 
Perversion Of Previous 
Revelations. 

The simple fact that Evolutionists maintain 
that God is absolutely unknowable, precludes 

59 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



religion from being the product of Evolution, for 
true religion is nothing other than a mind and 
heart knowledge of God whereby we can act in 
harmony with Him. It is true that religion 
admits of development when there is given 
revelation from which to start, but the term 
Evolution is as inapplicable to the growth of 
religion as it is to creation. 

The various religions of antiquity, with their 
one great God and lesser gods, were not the be- 
ginning of a true and rational religion, but the 
perversion of former revelation. Egyptian, Greek, 
and Roman wwship, and the like, are examples 
of falsified and perverted relics of revelation. 

The worshipping of images is not the beginning 
of the development of a religion that eventually 
would acknowledge God; but God having been 
revealed, and symbols of His power having been 
made, the people, as they became external, 
gradually fell to worshipping the symbol rather 
than the thing symbolized. No proposition 
could be framed that would be more impossible 
and illogical than that the worship of God devel- 
oped from the worship of images. The two are 
exact opposites. We can see that, the worship 
of God being instituted by the Creator, men 
could descend to the worship of idols. Equally 
clear is it that the ascent to God could not com- 

60 



REVELATION 



mence with an opposing falsity. No number of 
degrees of cold can make one of heat, nor can 
any development of darkness make one ray of 
light. Further, we get no nearer the primary 
cause by commencing with the assumption that 
the worship of God originated in idolatry, for 
idolatry is more difficult to conceive and further 
separated from the first cause than is the worship 
of God, which it seeks to explain. 

A revelation that disclosed the relation between 
things natural and spiritual would naturally 
suggest symbolism and Correspondence. The 
natural world being the outbirth of the spiritual, 
and each thing and force in it being derived from 
corresponding spiritual ones, the natural object 
was used as the symbol of the spiritual that it 
suggested. The fact that the human mind is 
a little universe in Correspondence with the greater 
universe, which relation in most ancient times 
was understood in particular, made natural forms 
suggestive not only of things in the spiritual world, 
but in the mind of man. This knowledge enabled 
man, in a most real way, to observe "sermons 
in stones, books in running brooks, and God in 
everything." Representatives of mental and 
spiritual things, which all civilized people have 
delighted to make, became objects of worship 
when the knowledge of representation or Corre- 

6i 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



spondence was lost. The highest art of the sculptor 
is to make visible and real some invisible power 
or virtue. It is well for us to worship and desire 
the unattained ideal that the artist succeeds in 
communicating to us, but to worship the image 
is idolatry. Thus idolatry arose in corrupting 
the motive of the artist and the use of the symbol. 

The various religions of the world to-day are 
the results of the various developments from 
former revelation, varied because of the adultera- 
tion, falsification, and erroneous understanding 
of past revelations. Christianity is therefore not 
an evolution. It starts with a Divinely given 
revelation, the Word, out of which modern 
civilization is, above all question, a development. 
The origin of the civilization of to-day, developed 
from the Word, is an illustration of the rise of all 
the distinct civilizations that have been since the 
world began, for upon revelation in some form 
each has risen. 

The Christian Religion Is From A Revela- 
tion Of God Himself In Jesus Christ. 

The Christian dispensation, though based upon 
revelation, and thus illustrating all others, stands 
alone in its character. It consists not only in a 
revelation of written truth that teaches of God, but 
also of a revelation of God, His life, His truth, 

62 



REVELATION 



and His nature through the incarnation of these 
in Jesus Christ. 

This actual revelation of God to man may be 
thus outlined. The time had come in human 
preparation when a most perfect revelation of 
God should be made. It should not take place 
as in times of old, through the " angel of the Lord," 
which means an angel filled with the presence of 
God and therefore speaking His will ; nor through 
a prophet, who proclaimed from the dictation of 
God ; nor through scribes, whose hands God used 
to write His truth ; but through a living, human 
nature, like man's because born of woman, and 
of which God was the soul because it was begotten 
of Him. In other words, God the Creator, desir- 
ing for all time to reveal Himself to the world, 
in order to accommodate the infinite to the finite, 
clothed Himself with a human body and a human 
nature, and became Emanuel, "God with us." 
Through that human nature, which touched man 
by its outmost, and was God in its inmost, the 
Infinite was, and is, and ever will be accommodated 
and mediated to finite receptivity in Jesus Christ. 
Through that himian He spoke the words of 
eternal truth, lived according to it in the sight 
of men, and became incarnate truth. By life 
and deeds He revealed the nature of "the Father 
within." Through His self-sacrificing devotion 

63 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

to man, He revealed the love of God which was 
in Him. "Having loved His own, He loved 
them" not only "to the end" of His natural life, 
but to the end of Infinite Love's possibility and 
service. He loved each one as though each were 
the only one. We know now that the nature of 
the infinite God is not cruel, or cold, or fluctu- 
ating, or arbitrary, or condemnatory; but that 
His nature is that of Jesus Christ, which was 
disclosed unto us by the life without sin, or 
surcease or limit of devotion, service, and self- 
sacrifice. Indeed, in Christ, God is revealed to 
be such a character that, if He could. He would 
renounce His throne in heaven, place man there, 
and serve him. So far as Jesus is comprehended 
God is understood, and He is comprehended by 
all who keep His commandments, because He is 
a self-revealing God to all who are within His 
laws. This is the essential truth of the Christian 
religion and of all revelation 

How The Word Is God. 

That the Word is God is asserted in the Word. 
Because God reveals Himself through the Word, 
it is God, and the fountain-head of all enlighten- 
ment, the foundation of civilization, and the 
everlasting source of wisdom and love from God, 
the Lord. The Word ascribes its own origin to 

64 



REVELATION 



revelation, and proclaims all knowledge, even 
from the beginning, to have been obtained "as 
He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, 
which have been since the world began." Materi- 
alistic science has demonstrated to the truly 
rational man the infallible truth of this. Science 
correctly concludes that the soul, the spiritual 
world, God, and interior causes are forever un- 
knowable to its means of investigation. It is 
also evident from reason itself that revelation 
has been at all times the center and sole source 
of civilization, morality, and spiritual enlighten- 
ment. 

The Word Is The Product Of Growth, And Is 
Formed To Contain Infinite Truth And 
Love. 

The Word was no more an instantaneous 
creation than the earth itself. It was formed 
by gradual preparation and growth. Ancient 
allegory and fable and song were not all myth. 
Originally they were from the Spirit of God 
expressing truth in forms adapted to the genius 
of the people; thus came the ancient Word 
several times referred to in our Word, and in which 
was the Book of Jashur. The onward trend of 
the Spirit was to form eventually a complete 
Word of God adapted to all time, which should 
5 65 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

contain within it every truth of the infinite mind, 
just as nature contains all of natural law. God 
could not communicate to us a knowledge of 
natural laws by giving us a text-book of dictionary 
definitions. But desiring to communicate the 
knowledge of them to us, He wrapped them up 
in clay, and presented them in working order as 
they are in nature. There we can learn of them 
in their practical aspect, and possess them in 
working order and form. He likewise presents 
spiritual truths to us, not lifeless, fragmentary, 
encyclopedic definitions, but in their reality and 
working order. To do so, He has clothed His 
infinite truth and life in the individual, civil, 
and spiritual thought and experience of men, 
and presented them to us in the narrative of the 
Word. In the Word by means of history, poem, 
song, and narrative, the infinite truth is pictured, 
or mirrored down and out from God to man. 
The Word is as a unit a Divine allegory, the 
interpretation of which is God the Creator. In 
it God speaks to His followers in the terms of 
human idea and experience, as only He can. 
The Word, being allegorical in form, is adapted 
to the states and conditions of every one through- 
out time. As man advances, his interpretation of 
the Word is exalted. God's Spirit has moved 
on and down the ages to bring together at last 

66 



REVELATION 



a perfect means of perpetual revelation, which 
the Word is. It is formed as the temple of His 
indwelling. It is a body of which God is the soul, 
flashing, through word and sentence as from 
Urim and Thummim, light and life in the degree 
that man can receive it. The Word is such a 
formation that any one who will truly believe in 
Jesus Christ and read the Word, will receive all 
the truth that he is able to live up to, and all the 
life that he will keep pure. It is the tabernacle 
of God with men, out of which the Heavenly 
Father speaks to His child. It is a perfect instru- 
ment of the Father's will, and so composed that 
through it He can accomplish His purpose by 
revealing the truth to those who desire it for the 
purpose of shunning their evils, and by with- 
holding it from those who want it only for selfish 
purposes, and would therefore profane it. In 
the Word dwells the creating truth, and by it 
God is regenerating the world, and creating a 
new race that shall commune with Him through 
the Word. It is in this sense that In the begin- 
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God." 

We obtain out of nature knowledge of natural 
laws by natural perception and the natural tests 
of reason and experiment. In an identical way 
spiritual laws, or spiritual truths, are obtained 

67 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



from the Word by spiritual perception and by the 
spiritual tests of reason and use. The Word 
prescribes the infallible test of its own truth, 
**If any man will do His will, he shall know of 
the doctrine." Knowledge of God seems so pro- 
found and deeply concealed a secret because it is 
so simple. It is yielded from His Spirit in keeping 
His commandments. No one will ever read the 
Word with unselfish desire for truth, and fail to 
have God adequately, and with ever increasing 
fulness and clearness, revealed to him through the 
devout and prayerful application of its principles 
to life. The Word, like all other works of God, 
is perfect. Because the Word is such a creation, 
unfolding by history, poem, song, and allegory the 
infinite love and wisdom of the Creator, it is and 
ever will be the primary source of intelligence, 
of the knowledge of God, of the spirit of progress, 
and of heavenly life. 

It is true that there are apparent contradictions 
and errors of science in the letter of the Word, 
but within the letter of the Word is a higher 
meaning, w^hich it is the purpose of the letter to 
contain and reflect. And further, there are clear 
assertions of great fundamental truths that 
correct and explain the seeming contradictions. 
The literal sense of the Word is largely adapted 
to the natural and uninstructed man. This is 

68 



REVELATION 



essential, for man is natural and uninstructed 
before he is spiritual and instructed. If the spirit 
of the Word were not by means of the letter 
accommodated to the natural, ignorant, and 
wicked states of man, there w^ould be no con- 
junction with him. Therefore the pure and 
infinite truth of the internal sense of the Word is 
largely clothed with ideas taken from the minds 
of natural and evil men. Above the mere literal 
sense, as the meaning of an allegory is superior 
to the narrative, is the spiritual meaning of the 
Word, the "undergarment" (chiton) of the Lord, 
''without seam, woven from the top throughout." 
Only in this most general way can this subject 
be treated here. It must suffice to conclude that 
genuine science and reason, with which the Word, 
when rightly interpreted, is everywhere in accord, 
confirm the truths of the Word, and assure us 
that it is the Divine medium of love, wisdom, 
and power from God the Creator, to the earth. 

God Must Be Acknowledged Not As The Dis- 
covery Of Science, But As The Object 
Of Revelation. 

It is the purpose herein to pursue first causes 
to their fountain-head, and to lay bare what 
many regard an unfathomable mystery. That 
this may be done intelligibly, it is necessary to 

69 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



declare still further the means by which such 
investigation is prosecuted. 

Revelation, of which science and reason are 
servants, places the knowledge of first causes 
within our reach. God must be acknowledged 
from revelation. To acknowledge Him as a dis- 
covery of one's own mind is not to acknowledge 
Him. And so to worship Him, is to worship not 
Him, but self; for God is not an object of self- 
searching. This great truth is not an arbitrary 
one, but is founded upon the nature both of man 
and of God. Self -searching, such as referred to in 
Job, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" 
looks outward and down exclusively; while 
revelation comes by an internal way by means of 
things without, and as we lift our eyes in the 
direction from which it comes, we turn our faces 
towmd the light. God can be known and ac- 
knowledged only by the method of His mani- 
festation, which is revelation. "There is no 
searching of His understanding." 

That which one may think to be God, which 
is the mere product of human reason, is not God, 
but a graven image, in no wise truly resembling 
God, if He is a self -revealing being. It is for such 
reasons that it is not sufficient to have His exist- 
ence forced upon us as the inevitable conclusion 
of logic, nor as an essential missing link, though 

70 



REVELATION 



such may be justly done to confirm the acknowl- 
edgment of Him through revelation. This brings 
us to the consideration of other means that are 
used to enable us to pursue this investigation to 
the desired end. 

As we can not discover spiritual things, wherein 
are first causes, by science, we are obliged to start 
from the revealed, and test it both by science 
and philosophy. Philosophy is a connecting link 
between science and spiritual truth. If what is 
reputed to be revealed is not in harmony with 
what is known to be true, we may know that the 
claims of revelation are spurious. But if the 
revealed is found to be true, and at the same time 
of such a character that it could not have been 
known except by revelation, then we may know 
not only that the revelation is true, but also that 
it is truly a revelation. To such tests should 
revelation be put, else we will be found believing 
blindly what we have no reason to accept. 

In arriving at first causes, we have taken ad- 
vantage of many things in the Writings of Sweden- 
borg that could not have been known except by 
revelation. If they are true, they will stand the 
severest tests of science and of philosophy. Yet 
we must be assured that the science and the 
philosophy used as tests are themselves true. 
If the reader is willing to proceed upon this basis, 

71 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



he will be carried on with sure and rational foot- 
ing to the end. But if he can not accept the 
necessity of revelation as a starting point, if he 
continues to insist upon seeing spiritual things 
with material eyes, if he demands ocular demon- 
stration of the invisible, or sensual evidence of the 
imponderable, if he will not use the things of 
science with enlightened reason, he must remain 
in utter ignorance of all things above the sensual 
plane, though they are easily within the reach 
of the rational, philosophical, and perceptive. 

The Philosophy Of Swedenborg. 

During Swedenborg's earlier life he wrote much 
of a scientific character. But later, after the 
commencement of his theological works, he makes 
no pretense to formulating science. He claims 
his mission to be to expound the Sacred Script- 
ures. Throughout his theological works he makes 
assertion of facts of a scientific character, and 
enunciates the principles of philosophy which 
should govern science and arrange its facts. He 
maintains that correct views of nature and of 
science depend upon the revelation of fundamental, 
interior causes and laws, which it was his mission 
to make known. From the starting point of these 
interior causes and laws, nature unfolds, and her 
otherwise impenetrable secrets are laid open. 

72 



REVELATION 

The argument herein set forth is based upon 
the Word as expounded by Swede nborg's theo- 
logical Writings. Without Divinely revealed 
spiritual truth, investigation of this character 
would be impossible. Now, by the aid of his 
Writings, the Word is a full and complete revela- 
tion of all truth. Though the conclusions to be 
derived are based upon revelation and upon the 
Word, they are submitted to the severest tests 
of genuine science and reason. The Writings of 
Swedenborg are accepted as true because they 
set forth the truth of the Word, and appear to 
reason, and are illustrated and confirmed by 
science. They are believed to be true because 
they are confirmed by all the means and processes 
by which knowledge can come from God to man. 
They are not offered here simply as an authority 
to stand behind the marvelous statements that 
are to follow. The argument is based upon re- 
vealed truth because revelation is the only source 
from which a system of thought can be projected 
in general outline to the end with mathematical 
accuracy and absolute certainty, and because the 
Word can be fully understood only by means of 
revealed doctrine. If one is willing to take revela- 
tion affirmatively, and to hold it, though tenta- 
tively, until it shall be adequately supported by 
science and reason, he will be satisfied with a 

73 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



complete demonstration. Let us not turn from 
such sources of truth in the desire to investigate 
interior causes with the test-tube and the micro- 
scope, and to follow self -derived intelligence; 
rather let us feel grateful for the mercy and love 
of God, who has placed within our reach the 
means of prosecuting our study until we shall 
comprehend the very organism of God Himself. 

I have not thought it advisable to quote from 
Swedenborg's Writings as authority, for the pur- 
pose is to substantiate the main argimient by 
science, by reason, and by the authority of truth 
itself. Heretofore philosophers have attempted 
to construct a philosophy from science upon the 
basis of human ingenuity, unaided by revelation. 
The results are apparent, as already noticed. 
Our philosophers have not started right. They 
have commenced to build their tower in the 
valley of materialistic thought, using the brick'* 
of man-made ideas for the "stone" of revealed 
truths; and they have substituted the ''slime" 
of self-love for the pure cement of love for the 
Word and God; they have builded higher and 
higher, hoping by the power of intellect to gain 
dominion over the wisdom of the Word and over 
heaven; but with the consequent confusion 
of tongues we are familiar. Or it is as though 
a company gathered on the circumference of a 

74 



REVELATION 



great circle, and started without compass in all 
directions to find the center. As a result scarcely 
any approach it, for the way is straight, and 
narrow at that. If the start is made at the center 
to find the circumference, there need be none who 
fails to find it. The doctrine of creation by Cor- 
respondence starts with the Creator as the center. 
The Creator is therefore the subject of the next 
chapter. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CREATOR. 



Creation Necessitates A Creator. 

It is a revealed truth that God created man in 
His own image and likeness. God, then, is a 
Divine image and likeness of man — or, in other 
words, He is a Divine Man, and Person. This is 
also the claim of Jesus Christ, that God was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us, revealing Himself in 
His Divine Humanity. The doctrine of creation 
by Correspondence begins with this revealed 
truth. To accommodate the argument to reason, 
and to confirm it by rational truth, we will start 
with the axiom, which discussion can not make 
clearer or more certain, namely, that creation 
necessitates a Creator. This all are harmonious 
in conceding, for even those who think of a first 
cause as the Creator acknowledge a Creator under 
that idea. Differences arise when the Creator is 
limited to some finite idea, or is assumed to be 
some specific power or thing. 

To begin our reasoning in full agreement, it is 
necessary only to have that intuition which 

76 



THE CREATOR 



acknowledges that there must be a creating 
agency of some kind. It is optional whether it 
be called a First Cause, a Power or Aptitude, 
Efficiency, or the Creator, for into any name 
each may put his idea of the creating agency. 
With this understanding, there can be no objection 
to the axiom that creation necessitates a Creator. 

Being agreed as far as this, the next step is to 
ascertain what the First Cause, or the Creator, is. 
Is the Creator a law, a quality, an unembodied 
force, a substance, the first principles in nature, 
a universal intelligence or goodness, a super- 
natural force, a person, or what? This question 
can be answered by logic that is irrefutable. It 
is hoped that the reader may be led to an answer 
that is clear, definite, and certain. In giving it, 
only the familiar and universally accepted prin- 
ciples of philosophical reasoning will be used. 
Yet let it be borne in mind that the reasoning is 
not based upon any hypothesis. It commences 
with a universally perceived and accepted axiom, 
and proceeds with mathematical certainty. 

Law Is In The Creator. 

First, is law the Creator, or First Cause? Law 
itself is but a mode of action, and implies some- 
thing back of it that acts. It can not be said that 
laws create, but rather that creation is subject to 

77 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

law. Law is not a power, but a rule according 
to which power acts. Consequently law alone 
is not the Creator, for a mere principle is essen- 
tially nothing ; that is, a principle abstracted from 
its subject is without substantial existence. Yet 
there is nothing that escapes law. It comprehends 
every particle of matter as well as the universe. 
Since law characterizes every created thing, it is 
conclusive that law is an attribute of the Creator ; 
but as creation itself is more than law, for it has 
a substantial being, so must be the Creator. If 
the Creator were naught but law, there would be 
no way to account for the power inherent in 
matter and in material forms that manifests 
itself according to law. Nature is more than law, 
for it has a substantial existence. The Creator 
is greater than the thing created, consequently 
we may know that while law is an attribute of 
the Creator's acting, the Creator, like nature, is 
more than law. 

Quality Is In The Creator. 

Is the Creator, or First Cause, a quality? 
Qualities cannot exist apart from substance. If 
the Creator were but a quality, He would be 
nothing. Yet the Creator, whatever He is, gives 
to created things their respective qualities, which 
we at once see would be impossible if the Creator 

78 



THE CREATOR 



had not quality in Himself. Hence it is certain 
that quality, as well as law, is in the Creator or 
First Cause. 

The Creator Is Not An Unembodied Force. 

That the Creator is not an unembodied force, 
is evident from the fact that force can not exist 
apart from an embodying substance. Force is 
but substance acting. It is intuitively perceived 
that an unembodied force can not exist, conse- 
quently it is known that the Creator, or the First 
Cause, is not an unembodied force. 

The Creator Is A Substance. 

It has been observed that neither law, nor 
quality, nor force exists apart from substance. 
Law is but the rule according to which substance 
acts. Quality is derived from the form of sub- 
stance. Force is the action of a substance, or 
substance in action. As these have their origin 
in the Creator, they are in Him, or the First 
Cause, in their beginnings or elements; but as 
they can not exist apart from substance, it is 
conclusive that the Creator is substantial, or 
substance. Then as the First Ca.use is substantial, 
it is as the name implies the highest, purest, and 
primal substance of which law, quality, and 

79 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



force are attributes, and from which came matter 
with its attributes 

Intelligence Is In The Creator. 

Having deduced the conclusion that the Crea- 
tor, or First Cause, is substance, the inquiry 
is not as to the real existence of a Creator, but 
rather as to the character of the Creator. Let 
us now further consider the attributes of the 
substantial First Cause. 

Gravity, attraction, atomicity, electricity, heat 
and light from the sun, and the like, are the only 
creating agencies generally acknowledged in the 
discussions of current science. There might be 
some reason for limiting the creating agency to 
these essentials of nature if there was not mani- 
festly a realm of forces that transcends them and 
uses them as servants. Observe how uniformly 
gravity acts. Attraction and chemical affinities 
follow their prescribed rules. Capillarity and 
osmosis operate only within their limitations. 
Yet out of the passive rock trees are builded up 
in the perfection of form, flowers unfold with 
designed beauty and variety, and fruits are pro- 
duced for human use. Likewise particles of 
matter gather together, and form the symmetrical 
bodies of animals, and the forms of human beings, 
whose faces indicate their characters. Gravity, 

80 



THE CREATOR 



attraction, chemical affinity, capillarity, osmosis, 
and atomicity alone or together can not do these 
things; for they are but attributes of matter, 
are limited to their own plane, and are as inferior 
to such results as an organ is to the music that 
is produced by it. It is clearly perceivable that 
there is an overruling, governing power that 
brings together all the separate kinds of nature's 
forces to the accomplishment of greater works 
than they alone are capable of, works showing 
too great design to come from the laws of nature 
operating at random. Therefore all concede that 
there is intelligence in the creative force, an 
intelligence that brings the various forces into 
harmonious action and design; for it needs no 
process of reasoning to see that there could not be 
intelligence in a thing created if there were not 
even greater intelligence in the creating power. 
There are those who, having perceived and for- 
cibly felt the truth of this and the consequent 
absolute inadequacy of the materialistic origin 
of the higher forms, have attributed creation to a 
universal intelligence. 

An abstract intelligence is unthinkable, yet 
since intelligence is a marked characteristic of 
the governing power, we know that it exists in 
the Creator, or the First Cause. It is asserted that 
sap and blood flow by osmosis and capillarity, and 

6 8t 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



that by attraction particles take their places and 
form the organisms of plants and of animals; 
yet these forces do not explain why a leaf is 
oblong, or rotund, or lanceolate, nor why the 
margin is entire, or serrate, or spinate; nor do 
they offer a reason why in one animal they form 
claws and in another hoofs. There was a time 
when upon this earth no animal existed, and 
consequently there was no such thing as an eye 
or an ear. Was it not therefore an intelligence of 
the highest order that knew even that organisms 
like the eye and the ear could be made, and that 
the possibilities of the w^onderful phenomena of 
sight and hearing existed? It was the denial of 
intelligence in the Creator that drew forth these 
trenchant words that carry their own answer, 
"He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? 
He that formed the eye, shall he not see?" 

Observing further the mutual service of the 
organs of the human body, and how each thing 
in it is of use ; how each part of the universe is an 
essential of a symmetrical whole, and each thing 
is in its use ; how there are no mistakes in nature's 
laws, and how they work in absolute perfection, 
we are compelled to concede that there is intelli- 
gence in the Creator, or First Cause, which must 
be superior to that in the things produced. 

No one, it seems, denies a form of intelligence 
82 



THE CREATOR 



in the creating agency. Differences arise in en- 
deavoring to form a conception of that intelligence. 
The thought of intelligence creating seems incred- 
ible, because under that idea the impression comes 
that the Creator must build the things created 
much as a man does a house, shaping this timber 
and that stone in an arbitrary way, and then 
bringing all together, while the fact appears that 
every atom is subject to and operates by fixed 
laws. This apparent difficulty will be removed 
later when the requisite data are brought forward. 
Sufficient for the present to make the point that 
the intelligence displayed in the effect must 
reside also in the Creator, or First Cause. *'He 
that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He 
know?" Thus far there can be no difference of 
opinion. Later the nature of that intelligence 
will be considered. 

Life Is In The Creator. 

The Creator, or First Cause, has also in Him 
the element of life. In order that the Creator 
may impart mineral, plant, and animal life. He 
must contain the essentials of these three degrees 
of life in Himself. No matter what life is, the 
Creator must be that life in the universal, highest, 
and purest form. Life in created things is a 
form of activity. All science so teaches. It 

83 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



follows that the Creator could not communicate 
activity except from activity. There is, there- 
fore, activity in the Creator. 

Life is not a created thing, yet it is a form of 
the activity of substance. The life of anything 
is its activity. The life in the Creator is the 
activity of His substance. The conception of 
activity apart from something acting is impos- 
sible. It is therefore rationally to be concluded 
from all the foregoing that the Creator, or First 
Cause, is a substance having in Himself law, 
quality, force, intelligence, and life. By these 
sure steps of reason, which the reader may largely 
augment, we may perceive that the Creator also 
embodies all the essentials of nature in their high- 
est form and substance. 

Affection And Thought Constitute Human 
Life, And Are In The Creator. 

That we may advance to a fuller understand- 
ing of the Creator, it will be necessary to consider 
somewhat in detail what life is. 

I. Life Is A Form Of Activity. 

In a most general sense, life may be regarded 
as comprehending all the activities distinguished 
as mineral, plant, and animal life. From a 
natural point of view, or with regard to the order 

84 



THE CREATOR 



in which creation took place upon the earth, the 
activity in matter verges little by little until it 
becomes what is called vegetable life, and lastly 
it assumes that complexity of action called vital. 
All the discussions of life that are accredited a 
scientific standing regard it as a form of activity. 
Holmes says, ''Life is the state of an organized 
being in which it maintains, or is capable of main- 
taining, its structural integrity by the constant 
interchange of elements with the surrounding 
media." ^ Spencer defines life as "The definite 
combination of heterogeneous changes both simul- 
taneous and successive, in correspondence with 
external coexistences and sequences."^ These 
are sufficiently correct definitions of the effects 
of life, or the manifestation of life in matter ; but 
as definitions of life itself the first is erroneous in 
making life merely a state of organized matter 
by which it maintains itself, and the second is 
defective in regarding life as changes that take 
place in correspondence with external things 
alone. How these and similar definitions fall 
short of comprehending what life is, may be further 
suggested by asking what it is that produces the 
''state" and the "changes" that are defined as 



iQld Vol. of Life, p. 201. 
'Principles of Biology, p. 74. 

85 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

life. Life can not be defined as the state or changes 
of matter, for matter has no power in itself to 
produce the organized state or to effect those 
changes called life. It is reasoning in a circle to 
say that life is the change of state of matter and 
the change of state is life. The definition of life 
must comprehend the cause of the changes or it is 
not a definition of life, but only a description of 
the effects or manifestation of life in nature. But 
to start our reasoning in agreement, it is necessary 
to regard life only as a form of activity, as science 
claims. 

2. Affection And Thought Constitute The Life Of The 
Brain, And Consequently Of The Whole Body. 

To ascertain more about the nature of life let 
us examine it in the human brain, the highest of 
material forms. What is the life of the brain, or 
human life? An answer has been given, its " com- 
plex functional activities." But to know what 
life is, it is necessary to go further than this. 
What gives the brain its functional activities? 
What makes it act? Matter can not act unless 
it is acted upon. A particle of matter can not 
move except some substance comes in contact 
with it. It is begging the question to say that 
life produces the activity of the brain, and that 
the activity of the brain is life. There is no other 

86 



THE CREATOR 



answer to the question than that there is a sub- 
stance superior to the visible matter, tissue, and 
organism, that impels the brain to action. 

A little thought about the function of the 
brain will disclose what it is that causes it to 
act. It is well known that affection and thought 
are associated with the brain ; but that the activ- 
ities of the particles of the brain, or that the 
modes of motion of its organism, can produce 
what is experienced as affection and thought 
appears upon reflection impossible. The brain, 
however highly organized, is of itself naught but 
matter, particles of dust, which intuition and 
observation show have no element of affection 
or thought in them. The sensations and capaci- 
ties of human life are not attributes of matter, nor 
therefore can they be of a merely material organism. 
They so transcend in their qualities and abilities 
all the attributes of matter as to reveal clearly 
that affection and thought are distinctly above 
and superior to material potency; as much so as 
a telegraphic dispatch transcends the inherent 
ability of a copper wire. The wire may produce 
dots and dashes, but it can not arrange them 
into a message of love. The theory that brain 
action produces affection and thought is the 
reverse of the truth. It is affection and thought, 
or more accurately speaking, the activity of a 

87 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



substance of which affection and thought are 
predicated, that gives motion to the brain. 

3. In Affection And Thought Originates The Life Of 
The Whole Body. 

Not only are affection and thought the active 
elements in the brain, and consequently its life, 
but as the brain is the primars^ vitalizing organ 
in the body, they are the life of the whole body. 
This is evident from self-examination and general 
obser\'ation. The action of the heart and lungs 
is immediately affected by the state of affection 
and thought. In deep meditation, the hearts 
beats are subdued, and respiration is fainter. 
Fright temporarily checks vital action, and 
animation stimulates it. "When fer\'ent and 
rich affections are called forth, the heart-beats 
are heavier, and respiration is longer-drawn and 
deeper. Aff'ections of a passionate nature set the 
blood and body as it were on fire. Happy affections 
and cheerful thoughts aid digestion, strengthen 
the general organism, favor health, and generate 
pure blood. ^lorbid affections and thoughts 
corrupt the whole body and breed disease and 
sickness. x\ffections and thoughts operate even 
so far as to write their quality and kind in the 
features. Xot only can we generally distinguish 
the features of an intellectual person from one 

88 



THE CREATOR 



less so, but even branches of intellectuality or 
professions become in time notably marked. We 
know therefore that the same thing builds the 
body that builds character. In short, all evi- 
dence goes to show that affection and thought are 
the life of the brain, and through the brain reign 
as the supreme governors in the body. It is 
rationally conclusive from the foregoing that, 
as no activity can exist apart from a substance, 
and as matter is totally incapable of that activity 
distinguished as affection and thought, affection 
and thought are of a substance superior to matter, 
and that the brain's activity is from that sub- 
stance, which is consequently its life and vital 
essence. 

4. Life Is The Activity Of Love. 

All the faculties of the mind can be traced to 
the province of affection and thought. The 
whole intellectual part, to which belong knowl- 
edge, ideas,, conceptions, wisdom, and their kind, 
is from the thought function; purpose, desire, 
longing, and their kind are from the affectional 
function: or what is the same, the understanding 
and the will comprehend the whole of the human. 
The understanding is such as is one's wisdom, 
and the will is such as is one's love. The terms 
will and understanding are used more to refer to 

89 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the organs or faculties of affection and thought; 
the terms affection and thought refer to the 
activities of those organisms or their outward 
functions, while the terms love and wisdom 
refer to their interior essence. Affection rules 
over thought. It gives thought its character and 
quality. If the affections are for science, the 
thoughts are scientific. If they are for literature, 
the thoughts are literary. If the affections are 
debased, the thoughts will be ; if pure, the thoughts 
will correspond. Such is the relation between 
affection and thought that thought may be 
correctly defined as the manner in which affections 
act. Thought is nothing other than the form 
in which affections act. Then since thought is 
affection's action, the life of the brain may be 
reduced to one primal element, that of affection 
or love. From a higher standpoint, therefore, 
love, or affection, is the life of the brain, while 
thought is its form of manifestation in the under- 
standing. Having observed that affection and 
thought are properties of a high substance, we 
may name that substance itself love. Operating 
in the will it produces affection ; operating in the 
tmderstanding, it produces thought, and thence 
the activities of the brain particles, and all the 
mental operations in their great variety. 



90 



THE CREATOR 



5. Love Is A Substance. 

It may be well here to recall that since love 
causes the brain to act, and since that which 
causes activity must have a body, or be a sub- 
stance either natural or supernatural, love must 
be a substance. The examination of natural 
phenomena leads up to and enforces the truth of 
this. Sound is from the activity of air, a sub- 
stance. Heat and light from the sun are from 
the activity of an intervening sujDstantial ether, a 
still higher substance capable of more complex 
motion. Electricity is but another manifesta- 
tion of the same substance, a substance so subtile 
and so underlying grosser matter that it is able 
to operate upon the forces that bind atoms 
together, and to rend asunder the hardest objects. 
It is a universally diffused substance polarizing 
the earths and permeating the universe. Though 
finer and so superior to what we are accustomed 
to think of .as substantial, it is most enduring, 
eluding destruction, and escaping decay because 
it is essentially a substance {sub -stare) — a thing 
that stands under to hold out. Gravity is the 
activity of a substance having still more subtile and 
more universal power. Nothing eludes its grasp. 
Acting in matter it gives bodies forces that draw 
them together after the similitude of affections 

91 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



that draw minds together. The affection that 
exists between material objects, or the force with 
which they affect one another, is called gravity, 
and is the measure of weight. Though so subtile 
as to escape our grasp even more effectually than 
ether, for it is a purer substance, it is most sub- 
stantial because it operates the most interiorly 
and primarily upon all material things. The 
higher the substance, the more substantial it is, the 
more perfect and the more potent, showing greater 
variety of powers. The lower, visible, and passive 
materials change or decay because they fall out 
of the grip of the more subtile substances, and 
shift about; but the higher and more subtile 
substances are the least subject to change, being 
nearer the great foundations that are laid for 
nature's building. Not only do we observe that, 
as we ascend the scale of material substances, 
rock, air, ether, and aura, they are more sub- 
stantial, but also that they show greater activity 
and more varied powers. Passing on up to the 
substance of affection, we are prepared to see 
that it must be still more substantial, manifest 
still greater activity and more varied power. 
From carefully observing the increasing complex- 
ity of activity in the ascending degrees of matter, 
no difficulty should be experienced in grasping 
comprehensively the fact that affection or love is 

92 



THE CREATOR 



a substance that is capable of the highest com- 
plexity of activity, and that it underlies the brain, 
and produces thought and all mental action or 
power. 

Having considered somewhat in detail what 
affection and thought are, the next conclusion 
can now be more satisfactorily drawn. Since 
affection and thought are factors in creation, they 
are in their beginnings and with all their potencies 
in the Creator, or First Cause; and as aft'ection 
or love is a high, pure, underlying substance of 
manifold, vital potencies, the Creator is as surely 
a substance with equal potencies. In short, the 
Creator is a substance of which affection and 
thought are attributes in addition to these previ- 
ously considered; or, in the terms of the proposi- 
tion, affection and thought constitute human life, 
and are in the Creator. This conclusion also may 
be interposed here, that as thought is the form of 
affection's action, the substantial and underlying 
element of the- Creator is affection or love. 

The Creator Is Person, Human, And Man. 

Before taking the next step, it is necessary to 
observe only in a most general way what con- 
stitutes person, the human, or man. Neither the 
material body, nor its shape, nor its organism 
makes the person. One whose aft'ections and 

93 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



thoughts are evil is called an evil person. If 
they are good, he is called a good person. Every 
person is such as are his affections and thoughts. 
It is readily perceived that affection and thought 
constitute the real person. Since thought is 
but the activity of affection, and affection is only 
another name for love, and since affection and 
thought constitute person, person exists in its 
essence in love. As has been discussed, love is an 
element in the Creator, or First Cause, therefore it 
is evident that person in its essence is in the Crea- 
tor. Or it may be said, that since affection and 
thought constitute person, and person is formed 
by the Creator, the Creator has the whole of 
person in His nature. There is therefore in the 
Creator Essential Person, comprehending the 
Human, or Man, which Person makes. 



The Creator Is Eternal. 

It is axiomatic that the First Cause is eternal, 
for the assumption of a beginning of the First 
Cause presupposes a prior cause that produced 
the First Cause, in which case the First Cause 
would be a secondary cause or an effect. It 
is acknowledged, therefore, by every rational 
mind, that the First Cause has the element of 
Eternity. 

94 



THE CREATOR 



The Creator Is Infinite. 

Though creation must necessarily be finite, it 
yet shows that the Creator comprehends the 
infinite. Infinity is shown to exist in proHfica- 
tions, for there is no limit in either plants or 
animals to the capacity to multiply, though 
external conditions may prevent. A grain of wheat 
has in itself the capacity to convert the earth into 
one field of wheat in about thirty years. A school 
of fish has the potency to fill the ocean in a short 
time with its prolification. There are no two 
faces, no two leaves, no two blades of grass pre- 
cisely alike, nor can there ever be. Nature is 
a constant succession of varying effects. The 
capacity to continue varied effects for eternity, 
which essential the Creator has, proves that the 
Creator embraces the Infinite. 



The, Creator Is Omnipotent. 

The Creator is also omnipotent; not because 
He can do an impossible thing or violate the laws 
of His own operation, but because all power 
originates in Him. He is omnipotent in the sense 
that He, as the term omnipotent (omnis-potens) 
implies, embraces all power that is. 



95 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The Creator Is Omniscient And Omnipresent. 

Omnipotence implies omniscience, for that 
which is not omniscient could not be omnipotent, 
for then something would be in existence from a 
power which was not included in the omnipotent. 
Infinite implies omnipresence, for if there is that 
wherein the Infinite is not present, the Infinite is 
thereby limited, which supposition would render 
the Infinite finite, whereby the Infinite would not 
be Infinite. The Creator is therefore eternal, 
infinite, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. 

The Creator Is Self-Existing. 

It is axiomatic that the Infinite, Omnipotent, 
and Eternal is self-existing. 

The Creator Is Very Person, The Divine Human, 
And God-Man. 

Finite person is composed of an unlimited 
variety of affections and thoughts. Person, the 
human, or man, is a little kingdom of affections 
going out in the form of thoughts. Person is a 
certain order of affections correlated into form. 
There are varieties and qualities of affections, 
as those for science, art, literature, and all their 
divisions; and those for father, mother, sister, 

96 



THE CREATOR 



brother, husband, wife, son, daughter, and friends. 
They are all the unfolded potency in the love 
that exists in the Creator. Now since the First 
Cause is eternal, infinite, and omnipotent, its 
essentials must also be eternal, infinite, and om- 
nipotent; and consequently the human elements 
in the First Cause are eternal, infinite, and omnip- 
otent. Since the human elements constitute Per- 
son in the First Cause, they must necessarily con- 
stitute an eternal, infinite, and omnipotent person. 
There is therefore no logical escape from the con- 
clusion that the First Cause is the eternal, infinite, 
omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient Per- 
son, the Creator, and all that can be conceived 
under the name God. Since the human is in the 
Creator, and in Him it is eternal, infinite, and 
omnipotent, He is the Divine Human, God- 
Man, Very Person, the Omniscient, the Omni- 
present, and the Self -existing. 

The difiiculty encountered in conceiving God 
as a person arises from bringing God down to an 
imperfect and finite conception of person rather 
than expanding and exalting the conception of 
person to the Infinite. It is neither an outrage 
upon reason nor is it difficult to think of the 
Creator having in Him all the elements of our 
human nature perfect and infinite, whereby is 
constituted the Divine Humanity in which is 
7 97 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



every potency in its highest form and in its infini- 
tude. Should the objection arise that all powers 
can not originate in the Creator because evil can 
not be thought of as existing in God, the difficulty 
will immediately vanish upon the reflection that 
evil is nothing other than the perversion of a good 
power that originates in Him, or that is directed 
contrary to Divine order through the free-will 
of mankind. 

An Adequate Idea Of God Necessitates That 
He Be Conceived Of As Interiorly 
In The Human Form. 

Lest the argument might seem prolonged, the 
greatest brevity has been exercised in arriving at 
the final conclusion that the First Cause is a Divine 
Human Person. To make clearer and more com- 
prehensive the conception that it has been the 
endeavor to produce, a few general observations 
will here be added. 

In speaking of the form of God or of man, a 
more interior idea than that of shape is intended. 
The human form has its origin in the order of 
human faculties, the primary essentials of which 
are affection and thought. Affection, or love, 
comes first, because this underlies and rules all in 
man. Next in order is thought, because thought 
is the first offspring of affection, just as light is the 

95 



THE CREATOR 



offspring of heat in the sun. This is tacitly per- 
ceived in the familiar expression that the wish 
is the father of the thought, which is but the 
common way of saying that thoughts are the 
product or offspring of the affections. The facul- 
ties of determination, memory, reflection, and the 
like, treated in psychological writings, are facul- 
ties distinctly below the general functions of 
affection and thought, and subservient to them. 
These faculties, determination, reflection, memory, 
perception, intuition, and the like, as has been 
observed, are classifiable under either the thought- 
faculty, the understanding; or under the affec- 
tion-faculty, the will. They enter into the human 
form, but as they are external and subservient to 
the more interior human essentials, affection and 
thought, they need not be considered here further 
than to say that they are the organized faculties 
essential to the effective operation of the indwell- 
ing affection or love. They are the body in w^hich 
affection or love dwells as the soul; they are the 
faculties into which the current of life-love 
charged with many potencies divides and becomes 
one again in the unity of the human form. The 
organized, subordinated, and correlated func- 
tions and faculties and potencies are what is to be 
understood by the human form. The material 
body with its system of organs is the habitation 

99 



LOF C. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



that love builds for itself that it may bring into 
outward effect the endeavor that is in love. The 
human body is therefore the outbirth of the 
interior human form, and as such it is the material 
image of the functions and faculties that con- 
stitute man; it is the visible symbol of the sys- 
tematic and correlated potencies that are in love 
itself. 

If love had not in itself an ordinated series of 
potencies, it could not produce a corresponding 
material organism; for the material organism is 
nothing other than a system of organs formed by 
the potencies of love in which they may dwell 
and act. The material organism is a form made 
by love for love to realize itself. Since love is the 
forming and creating substance in man, the corre- 
sponding substance of the Creator is properly called 
Divine Love, and as God in His very essence is 
Love, His whole substance is Love. By His form 
is not meant shape, but the correlative, coordinat- 
ing, infinite potencies that are in the substance of 
His Love, which constitute the Divine Human. 
The substance of the Creator is Love in the same 
sense that the substance of the earth is rock, or 
that the substance of the material body is flesh. 
Love and wisdom are the flesh and blood of the 
Divine Being, from which man must receive to 
have life. "Except ye eat My flesh and drink 

lOO 



THE CREATOR 



My blood, ye have no life in you." The nature 
of that Love is that of affection — ad-ficere, to do 
to, to act upon. The Creator's Love is the source 
of all activity and power, hence the fulness of 
all activity is in Him. As thought is the first 
activity of love in man, so Divine Thought or 
Divine Wisdom is the form of the first activity 
of Divine Love in the Creator. The form of the 
activity of Love in the Creator is Divine Wisdom ; 
the form of its unperverted activity in the mind 
of man, is truth ; in the universe, it is law. 

In regarding the Creator as a Divine Person 
whose substance is Love, He is not made a mere 
sentiment or a formless thing, but a real sub- 
stance and form in which is the kingdom of uni- 
versal potencies in their beginning, in their highest 
form, and in their fulness. The fulness of the 
kingdom of potencies in Him constitutes His 
infinity, and from their quality and height He is 
Divine. 

The Human Form And Shape Should Be 
Attributed To The Creator. 

As the Creator is substantial. He necessarily 
must have form. His form is properly conceived 
of as that ordinated series of potencies that 
makes the finite human form; but as in Him 
each potency is eternal, infinite, and omnipotent, 

lOI 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the series in Him constitutes the Divine Human. 
Thinking above space, that is, not having it in 
mind, we can think of His substance as Love, the 
potencies of which give rise to the forces of crea- 
tion; and we can think of His form as that suc- 
cession and arrangement of essentials that con- 
stitute a humanity. Since the mind can not 
think definitely except from images, His shape 
is properly conceived of as that of the highest 
outbirth and embodiment of His Love; namely, 
the human shape. The human shape is the mate- 
rial image of the human form ; the human form is 
an image of the Divine Human; so it is evident 
that the Divine Human could not be revealed or 
thought of imder any other form than that of the 
human, which corresponds to it. "He that hath 
seen ]\Ie hath seen the Father," said Jesus. No 
injustice will be done in thinking of the Creator 
as of the human shape, provided there is put 
within that idea the essence of the Divine Human, 
which is infinite love. Indeed, without such a 
definite image in mind, no adequate idea of God 
can be formed. Should it be admitted that the 
Creator is all this, yet so much more that to think 
of Him as Infinite Person is a limitation upon Him, 
it should be remembered that as creation is finitely 
represented in man, so creation is in the Creator 
in its infinitude. For man in himself is a little 



I02 



THE CREATOR 



universe wherein the greater universe is repre- 
sented in each particular by some power or 
faculty. The rock and the sand, the lamb and the 
lion, the dove and the vulture, the earth and the 
heavens are all in man. Man's person includes all 
that there is in the material creation, but on 
higher planes. In the Creator are man and crea- 
tion in the still higher planes of the Divine Human. 
Now when we have assigned to the Creator in 
infinite degree all that there is in creation, we can 
not conceive of more. Whatsoever more than 
this He might be would be of no concern to us. 
We have no means of knowing, it, or faculties to 
cognize it. It is sufficient that He is the Divine 
Human, and whatever He might be on still 
higher planes is immaterial, fo"*- man is satiated 
in the Divine Humanity. 

Our conclusions, then, are the truths of revela- 
tion, for it declares that God created man in His 
own image and likeness, and that God is Divine 
Man. In subsequent chapters this will be consid- 
ered more in detail whon the requisite data are 
adduced; suffice it here to say that He could 
create in no other way than in His own image, 
which every orderly thing reflects in some degree. 
Representatively God put Himself fully into 
creation, "For the invisible things of Him from 
the creation of the world are clearly seen, 

103 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



being understood by the things that are made, 
even His eternal power and Godhead; so that 
they are without excuse." Thus as perceptions, 
which are first, are the conclusions of reason, so 
the facts of true revelation, being given, become 
the conclusions of all sound logic; for every 
truth of the Word can be confirmed by irrefutable 
reasoning. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION. 



Without Knowledge Op Degrees Causes Can 
Not Be Understood. 

Without a knowledge of degrees, a clear, defi- 
nite, or interior understanding of the universe, 
in general or in particular, is impossible. Degrees, 
being the means by which creation took place and 
is sustained, hold the secret of the philosophy of 
creation. Through the knowledge of them, interior 
or prior causes may be investigated and compre- 
hended; but without their acknowledgment, 
there must result that very confusion which 
characterizes the thought of to-day. 

Continuous Degrees And Discrete Degrees. 

There are two general classes of degrees; con- 
tinuous degrees, and discrete degrees. One may 
be best understood in contrast with the other. 
Continuous degrees of any thing exist on the 
same plane. They may be thought of as degrees 
of latitude. Discrete degrees exist on different 
planes. They may be conceived of as degrees of 

105 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



altitude. Continuous degrees are like degrees 
from hard to soft, from gross to subtile, or from 
dense to rare, and the like. Light diminishing in 
degree of intensity from light to shade, or the 
inverse ; the decrease in the degree of sound, as 
one travels from a sounding body, and of heat as 
one removes from fire," or the inverse, are illus- 
trations of continuous degrees. The difference 
between any two degrees marked on a ther- 
mometer is a difference in continuous degrees. 
Discrete degrees are invariably in a series. The 
discrete degrees of a series, like the continuous 
degrees of any thing, always proceed from the 
same origin; but they differ from continuous 
degrees in existing on different planes. Will, 
understanding, and act are three discrete degrees. 
A certain amount of act will not make the under- 
standing, nor will any increase in the understand- 
ing necessarily make a like increase in the will. 
They are three different things on three distinct 
planes. Yet the will proceeds by the understand- 
ing, and produces the act. 

Acts are on the plane of the body; thoughts 
are predicated of the understanding; and affec- 
tion, or desire, is from the will; consequently 
affection, thought, and act constitute a like series 
of discrete degrees. Every work of man exists first 
in the affections. Take speech for illustration. 

io6 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 

It exists in the writer or orator first as affection 
or desire. But no amount of affection consti- 
tutes speech. Before speech can be produced 
there must be thought concerning idea and word. 
But however much one might desire to write or 
to speak, or however beautiful and forceful 
speech might be conceived, desire and thought 
can not convey themselves to another. To 
affection and thought some act of the body, as 
speech written or spoken, must be added as a 
vehicle. One might have great desire to write a 
valuable book, but he could not do so until he 
had gathered the knowledge acquired by the 
searching study of the scholar. But a collection 
of books will not make knowledge. The affec- 
tion is upon one plane, the thoughts are upon 
another, and books are upon another. Yet it 
is perceived that affection, thought, and act 
always have a certain relation. The discrete 
degrees of every series are related as end, cause, 
and effect. Assume that a writer loves his 
country, and desires to benefit it. Use for country 
is the end existing in his affections. It is the pur- 
pose, motive and intent of all further action. 
Use to country in the affections proceeds by 
thoughts as a cause to speech, which is the effect. 
Affection, thought, and speech are therefore not 
continuous degrees; they are not one thing 

107 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



decreased or refined until it becomes the other; 
but they form a series of three discrete degrees. 
Yet each on its own plane is continuous. One 
may differ from another in having more patriotism 
or affection, or one may have broader knowledge 
and more thoughts than another, or one may 
do greater work. These differences in degree 
on their respective planes are simply more or 
less of the same thing, and are continuous 
degrees; but the planes themselves form a 
series of discrete degrees. Discrete degrees 
are differentiated degrees of altitude, related 
as cause and effect, and nonconvertible one into 
another. 

Continuous degrees can be perceived by the 
senses, but it is not so with discrete degrees. Yet 
what discrete degrees are and how they exist in 
a series can be shown from things that are seen. 
The physiologist knows that minute fibers are 
clustered together forming larger ones, and that 
these larger ones are collected to form the single 
muscle. The same is true of the nerves. Minute 
fibers are collected into larger ones, and these 
larger ones unite to form the nerves. It is similar 
with the organs and viscera of the body. Dis- 
crete degrees and their existence in a series are 
illustrated also, but less perfectly, by the three- 
fold order constituted by the wood, the inner bark, 

io8 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 

and the outer bark of trees; by the nut-meat, 
shell, and bur; by the fluids of fruit, the contain- 
ing sac or cell, and the rind, and the like. This 
three-fold order exists in minerals through the 
collection and arrangement of the constituent 
units. These examples, taken from similar degrees, 
illustrate discrete degrees, and show how they are 
related in a series. The aura, ether, and air, 
which constitute the earth's atmospheres, are 
three discrete degrees. So also are charity, 
faith, and act; love, wisdom, and use; affection, 
thought, and deed; the soul, the body, and the 
outward act. A still larger series of discrete 
degrees is the Creator, the spiritual world, and 
the natural world. 

Homogeneous Degrees And Heterogeneous 
Degrees. 

The discrete degrees constituting any one thing 
are always in a series, a lower one of the series 
being derived from the higher, like end, cause, and 
effect. End, cause, and effect follow in order, 
like prior, middle, and ultimate, the end or prior 
producing the cause or middle, and the cause or 
middle producing the effect or ultimate. Affec- 
tion, thought, and act are related as end, cause, 
and effect. Take the example of speech for 
illustration. The end existed first as a desire or 

109 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



affection in the mind ot the writer. He desired 
a book. The desire acting in the intellect pro- 
duced thought concerning the book, and collected 
the knowledge essential to write it. Then, when 
the knowledge was acquired, desire or the end 
used knowledge as a cause to produce the act. 
Desire is the end and the first, thought is the 
cause and middle, and the act is the effect and 
last, or ultimate. It will be observed that the 
end, which is first, becomes the last in the effect 
where it is realized. The affection or use in the 
book was first as an end, and the last in the effect. 
Discrete degrees that proceed from the same end 
and are of the same nature are homogeneous. 
Degrees that are not of the same nature or that 
do not come from the same end are heterogeneous. 
They can never form discrete degrees with the 
homogeneous. The inward delight from affec- 
tion, the corresponding thought, and the smile upon 
the countenance constitute a series of three 
homogeneous discrete degrees. Inward hatred, 
the conjoined thought, and the hard expres- 
sion are also a series of homogeneous discrete 
degrees, but as compared to the former they are 
heterogeneous, for they are not derived from 
the same end, and can not form a series with 
them. 



no 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



Discrete Degrees In Successive Order And 
In Simultaneous Order. 

Discrete degrees are said to be in successive 
order when conceived of as one following after 
another from the highest to the lowest. Con- 
ceiving our universe in successive order, the 
sun is thought of as the highest, the atmospheres 
as lower, and the earth as the lowest. Discrete 
degrees are said to be in simultaneous order 
when conceived of from inmost to outermost. In 
simultaneous order the sun would be thought of 
as the center, the earth as the circumference, 
and the atmospheres as intermediates. The 
highest in successive order always becomes the 
center or inmost in simultaneous order, the 
lowest in successive order becomes the circum- 
ference or outermost in simultaneous order; 
and the degrees between the highest and the 
lowest in successive order become intermediates 
in simultaneous order. Simultaneous order is 
conceived of as the same things in successive 
order, as it w^ere pressed down into a plane. The 
simultaneous order of discrete degrees in all 
things natural or spiritual, in particular or in 
general, is formed from the successive order of 
the same degrees. In thinking of things being 
put forth in the process of creating, they are to 

III 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



be conceived of as in successive order. In think- 
ing of things subsisting and existing, they are 
conceived of as in simultaneous order. 

A first, a middle, and a last or ultimate exist 
in every thing. Things proceed in successive 
order from the first, and by the middle they 
proceed to the last or ultimate, wherein they 
subsist in simultaneous order. Recurring to the 
former illustration, affection is the highest and 
first, or the center and inmost; thought is the 
middle or intermediate, and speech is the lowest 
and ultimate, or outermost and last. Affection 
to become realized, to come into the world, must 
proceed to thought, and clothe itself in a vesture 
of ideas ; and then by thoughts proceed to speech, 
and take on an outer garment of signs or words, 
called speech. 

Successive order appears in thinking of the 
origin of speech. Affection is the highest or first, 
thoughts are the middle, and speech is the low- 
est or ultimate. But in thinking of speech as a 
thing produced and in simultaneous order, speech 
is the outermost or last, thoughts as an inter- 
mediate are within speech, and affection is the 
inmost or center. When speech is produced, 
thought and affection reside within in simul- 
taneous order, which we may be aided in observ- 
ing by noticing that they are taken out in an 

112 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



order reverse to that in which they enter. Speech, 
being in the circumference and the last, makes 
its address first, and to the eye or the ear. Thought 
within speech is then discerned by the understand- 
ing. Then thoughts yield their contained affections 
to the will of the reader or hearer. But should 
one reproduce them, the former order must recur. 

The End Terminates In The Effect, And There 
Resides In Fulness And In Power. 

From what is supreme all things that are 
beneath proceed by discrete degrees in succes- 
sive order ; they terminate in the lowest, last or 
ultimate, and there reside in simultaneous order, 
by virtue of which firsts are in lasts, and supreme 
things are in their ultimates in fulness and in 
power. Love has no form or power until it con- 
tinues to thought; and love and thought have 
no power until they continue to some act, or 
speech. But when love by thought proceeds to 
speech, it terminates in speech, the ultimate, 
and there resides. Recall the former illustration 
of one having affection for his country. He 
desires to render it a service, for which purpose 
he writes a book. The end is use to country. 
Affection for use proceeds to thoughts, and con- 
tinues to speech; and there the end, use to 
country terminates in words, and abides in all 
8 113 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



its fulness and power. For before words were 
produced by the end, the end, use to country, 
had no power in the world. 

This may be further illustrated by the human 
body, in which we may see an image of creation. 
There is a continuous connection from the heart 
to the skin through the viscera, which is the 
intermediate. The skin, as an ultimate, holds 
all things interior in connection and order, for 
were the skin, against which the air presses, 
removed, the fluids of the body would pass away, 
and the body would be destroyed. The creative 
power on the plane of the body flows down through 
the higher things of the body into ultimates, and 
forms the skin as an ultimate of the physical 
forces. The physical forces terminate in the 
skin, and form a covering for the delicate organs 
within. If the physical forces had no power to 
form an ultimate, they could not form interior 
things, nor could they have any power on the 
higher planes of the body. The skin is therefore 
the ultimate and reactive basis from which all 
things within exist ; and by virtue of power there, 
there is power in higher planes, whereby the 
organs perform their respective functions. Hence 
interior things are always terminated in and 
bounded by ultimates. 

Take an illustration from a larger series. In 
114 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



the creation of the human body the brain is first 
delineated, and from it are put forth extensions, 
which are developed into heart and lungs, and 
by these extensions the body is formed. The 
brain is the material organ of the mind. The 
mind can not take form without a brain; the 
brain can not operate the body without heart and 
lungs ; the heart and lungs have no power without 
the outermost incasing body. Nor have the 
brain, the mind, or the soul power to act in the 
world apart from the body. But when the soul 
has formed a brain, heart and lungs, and a body, 
the soul dwells in fulness and power in the ulti- 
mate body. The soul or mind is supreme and the 
first. It proceeds by intermediates, the brain, 
heart, and lungs, to form the body, and then 
resides therein in fulness and power to perform 
uses. In a larger series uses were first, and formed 
the soul as a cause; and the soul as a cause 
formed the body as an effect. Uses proceeded by 
the soul to the ultimate body, wherein the first 
or use becomes the last in the uses of the body. 
Thus it is in general and in every particular that 
the end terminates in the effect, and there resides 
in fulness, perfection, and power. Later we will 
notice how the Creator as the end, through the 
spiritual world as a cause, formed the natural 
world as the effect. 



115 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Correspondence. 

There is a fixed relation that always exists 
between end, cause, and effect, or between inter- 
nals and their ultimates. Kindly affection clothes 
itself in kindly thought, and kindly thought 
results in kindly act. Hatred clothes itself in 
hostile thought, and hostile thought terminates 
in unkind act. Inward joy produces the out- 
ward smile. Grief has its ultimate in weeping. 
When internal things flow forth into ultimates, 
they never violate this law of relation. An 
expression of agony upon the face is a sure sign 
of inward pain. No one in all the world would 
ever mistake an enraged countenance for an 
expression of inward love. When internals flow 
into externals they produce there with absolute 
accuracy a representation of themselves. This 
is from the law of Correspondence. That law 
of relation between internals and their ultimates ; 
that law according to which affections clothe 
themselves with thoughts, and thoughts with 
acts; that law by which ends pass by causes to 
effects, whereby there is produced in ultimates 
a representation of things interior, is the law of 
Correspondence. End, cause, and effect are 
always related according to the law of Corre- 
spondence. Correspondence is the appearance of 

II6 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



the internal in the external, and its representa- 
tion therein. 

Since it is not the purpose here to define words 
any further than is indispensable, further devel- 
opment of the subject is left to the application 
of the laws of Correspondence in the general 
context. 

With a thorough comprehension of these 
principles and facts, we may proceed to their 
application in the general subject of Creation. 

The Natural World Is Composed Of Discrete 
Degrees. 

The universe is a succession of discrete degrees, 
reaching from the inert rock to the active sub- 
stance of the Creator. Rock is the least sensitive, 
the most fixed of substances, and the evident 
basis of creation. It is the lowest substance in 
the sense that it acts upon nothing except in a 
reactive capacity. It is dead, passive, fixed, and 
reactive. Water is more responsive to incident 
forces. Its molecules lie loosely; it is mutable, 
easily and repeatedly changing its form from 
water to vapor, and again falling as rain; thus 
acting upon rock and adapting it to the uses of 
living things. The air is matter of a still higher 
form. It acts not only upon rock, but upon 
water. It is more sensitive, its molecules lie 

117 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



more loosely, and it operates m more varied 
capacities. It is higher than either rock or water 
because it acts upon them, and employs them as 
servants under its forces. The air is higher in 
adaptability than water, and is thus suited to 
perform superior functions, as exemplified in its 
capacity to take on the complex activity from 
which is sound, and to yield its soft vibrations 
to the delicate structure of the ear. It is also a 
substance taken in by both plants and animals, 
as in breathing, for the more direct support of life. 

The air, water, and rock constitute three con- 
tinuous degrees. Yet they are but one discrete 
degree, for the aqueous and terreous parts of 
the globe are but continuations of the lower 
atmosphere or air. 

The ether is a still higher form of matter. 
It acts upon the air, or from within outwardly. 
It is the substance w^hereby there exist heat, 
light, and electricity. Its uses are superior to those 
of the air, having the nobler function of giving light 
to the eye. Its uses are more numerous than 
those of air, water, or rock. From its many uses, 
as in making land and water plastic to operating 
forces by means of heat, and giving light for 
animal and for vegetable life, it is at once recog- 
nized as of a distinctly higher order than air. 
Ether, being differentiated from air, and non- 
118 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



convertible into it, is the next or second discrete 
degree of material substance. 

That there is such a substance as ether is con- 
ceded by all scientists, for the explanation of the 
phenomenon of light necessitates the existence 
of a universally diffused medium whose activity 
produces light. Consequently the existence of 
such a substantial medium need not be further 
discussed. 

That electricity originates in the same element 
that light does, and is consequently only another 
manifestation of ether, is quite evident from the 
fact that heat and light can be electrically pro- 
duced similar to that produced by the activity 
of ether. That light and electricity have their 
origin in a common medium is experimentally 
evident from Maxwell's demonstration that the 
velocities of the propagation of light are sub- 
stantially the same as of electro-magnetic induc- 
tion. Science now concedes that electrical activ- 
ity is the origin of heat and light from the 
sun. 

Of a still higher order than ether is that sub- 
stance called aura, whereof is the force of gravity 
that no atom escapes, and that binds all things 
together in their natural relation, and gives 
grosser matter its so-called inherent or innate 
properties according to its form. The aura so 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



lies back of ether, air, and rock, that it is properly- 
called the highest or inmost of these. That the 
aura is distinct from ether is evident from the 
independence of their actions and their com- 
plete non-interference. The constant, unmodi- 
fied, independent, and simultaneous activity of 
gravity and of electricity, which is an activity of 
ether, in the simple experiment of lifting a bar of 
iron with an electro-magnet is confirmatory; 
for the one force of gravity does not merge into 
the other force of electricity, but both are con- 
stant and uninterrupted though acting in opposite 
directions. The attempts of the most severely 
materialistic of physicists to level all substance 
down to the one grade of the grossest matter is 
effectually defeated not only by the existence of 
so different forms of matter as aura and air with 
capacity for so diverse activity, but also by the 
forced acknowledgment on the part of all that 
there is a universal medium of ether whose activ- 
ity gives heat and light. The same process of 
reasoning that convinces us of the existence of 
ether, will show also that there is a universal 
medium of aura permeating ether as ether per- 
meates the air and the earth. The explanation 
of many phenomena necessitates its existence, 
which is no more difficult to conceive than it is 
to conceive of ether. The aura, being distinct 

1 20 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



from ether, constitutes the third discrete degree 
of material substance. 

Nature's Forces Are Derived From The Spirit- 
ual World. 

Observing the order of material substances, 
there is first noticed rock, the most immobile 
matter, serving as a basis upon which the higher 
substances may rest and' in which they may 
terminate; for the active necessitates a passive. 
Next is water; then air; then ether; then aura. 
Upon this ordered form of successive degrees, 
more generally grouped as solids, fluids, and 
gases, or from within into it, the sun acts, vivify- 
ing it with sun-potencies and sun-endeavor. 
The sun gives heat and light to soften nature's 
implastic substances that they may be sensitive 
to the life-forces from the Creator. The life- 
forces from the Creator pick up the particles of 
matter, and weave them into mineral, plant, and 
animal bodies; for though matter is endowed 
with capillarity, osmosis, magnetism, atomicity, 
gravity, and kindred forces, which dissolve matter, 
free atoms, aid in the circulation of sap and 
blood, and render matter sensitive to incident 
forces, these forces are, as has been observed, 
inadequate to account for that systematic dis- 
tribution of matter in forming the tree, the leaf, 

121 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the flower, the fruit, and the seed with ability 
to produce its kind; nor can they explain the 
gathering of matter into a system of bones, 
muscles, veins, arteries, nerves, and brains. Much 
less can they explain the animal instinct, a power 
preeminently transcending any force inherent 
in matter. It is hardly necessary to go so far 
as to suggest that difference w^hich exists between 
the forces belonging to matter and the affections 
and thought of the human mind, for which the 
properties of matter in no degree account. There 
is no other conclusion possible within the bounds 
of philosophical reasoning than that there is a 
realm of forces distinctly superior to the material 
universe. There are forces that form the vege- 
table kingdom, and preserve its uses ; forces that 
form the animal body, and endow it with instinct ; 
forces that form the human, and gift man with 
wisdom and love. Since these forces transcend 
the capacities of matter, and as there is no force 
without a substance from which it comes, it is 
certain that there is a realm of substances superior 
to those of nature, and that they come down into 
nature, and produce effects there. Call that 
realm of substances and forces what one may 
desire, cause -world, supernatural world, mind- 
world; but no new name is necessary. It is, as 
distinguished from the natural world, rightly 



122 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



called the spiritual world, — spiritus, the breath- 
world, whence comes the breath of life into the 
natural world. 

The Spiritual World, Like The Natural World, 
Is Composed Of An Ordinated Series 
Of Discrete Degrees Of 
Substance. 

In the spiritual world the forces in nature have 
their origin. It is the world of causes. Nature 
is the world of effects. Since the natural world 
of effects is a succession and ascending series of 
planes of matter, the spiritual world of causes 
must be a corresponding succession and ascend- 
ing series of planes of spiritual substances. By- 
spiritual substances are meant those superior to 
the natural world, or belonging to the supernatural 
world. We are to think of them as real entities, 
actual, created substances, just as real and tangi- 
ble to substances on their respective planes as 
forms of matter are on theirs. The only uncreated 
substance is that of the Creator Himself; yet 
that is not called uncreated because it is unreal 
or a non-entity, but because it never was created, 
it being the Eternal, Primal Substance, the 
"I AM." Natural or material substance is the 
substance belonging to the natural' universe, as 
rock, air, ether, aura. Spiritual substance is that 

123 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



of which the soul is made; that which produces 
affection and thought in the soul; that of which 
the spiritual world and all its forms are made. 
Natural substance or matter commences with 
the sun, in which spiritual substance terminates. 
So as we think of something real when we say- 
matter or natural substance, we are to think of 
something just as real when spiritual substance 
is mentioned. 

Recalling that nature ascends by successive 
degrees from the implastic, inert rock to the 
sensitive atmospheres that lie about the sun that 
they may be charged with its vivifying energies, 
and communicate them to the air and to the 
more solid matters of the earth, it may be per- 
ceived that nature is an ascending series of effects ; 
that is, the forces in the air, water, and rock are 
effects of the lowest order, and must originate in 
a corresponding cause; the forces in ether are 
effects of a higher order, necessarily from a cor- 
respondingly higher cause; the forces in the aura 
are still higher eft'ects, originating in a still higher 
cause. Consequently, as there is an ascending 
series of effects, there must be a like series of 
causes; or, as the effect- world is an ascending 
series of effects, the cause-world is an ascending 
series of causes ; and this must be true even though 
the effects be derived from one general cause, 

124 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



the Creator. The Creator embodies potentially 
a succession of causes, or more accurately a succes- 
sion of ends, that supports the proceeding effects. 

Again, consider another series. There is the 
life-force in plants that forms leaves, flowers, 
and fruits, which are effects that matter is totally 
incapable of producing of itself. Animal instincts 
are effects of a still higher cause. Human intelli- 
gence is a still higher effect, and must come from 
a still higher cause. The causes of the powers 
in plants, animals, and man are manifestly a 
series of causes superior to the natural world. 
Therefore, because the natural world is an ascend- 
ing, ordinated series of effects from causes, which 
causes are in the spiritual world, it is conclusive 
that the causes in the spiritual world and conse- 
quently the substances in which they inhere — for 
causes can not exist apart from substance — are, 
like nature, arranged into a series of distinct 
degrees, reaching upward from the lowest parts 
of the spiritual world that lie next to material sub- 
stance to the great First Cause, the primal foun- 
tain of all activity, God, the Creator and Sustainer. 

All Activity Is Derived From The Creator 
By Correspondence. 

It has been shown in a general way what the 
Creator is; that His substance is Love, consti- 

125 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

tuting the Divine Human, in which are the 
infinite potencies. All power, every endeavor, 
the universal energy are gathered into it; or 
rather, because His Love is infinite, omnipotent, 
and eternal every power has the springs of its 
action and its origin in Him, and out of His lov- 
ing every potency can be unfolded. Now we 
have but to think of that spiritual world as con- 
sisting of an ascending series of contiguous degrees 
with its lowest substances lying next to nature, 
and with its highest, purest, and most sensitive 
substances lying about the Creator, just as the 
finer atmospheres of the earth lie about the stm, 
to perceive that it is vivified by the Creator as 
nature is vivified by the sun. The purest and 
most sensitive substances of the spiritual world, 
lying about Him and being plastic and responsive 
to the vital action of His organism, become 
charged with energy and activity from Him just 
as the ether is charged with activity and energy 
from the sun. The highest atmosphere of the 
spiritual world communicates its activity to the 
next lower; likewise activity and energy pass 
on and down until they reach the highest sub- 
stances in nature, which, receiving the impact, 
become imbued with energy and activity. Thence 
activity in nature is derived, and is passed down 
the successive degrees of creation to the lowest 

126 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



forms of matter according to the law of Corre- 
spondence. 

The Quality Of Influx Is Determined By The 
Receiving Form. 

All qualities and powers being in the Creator 
as His essential being, it is easy to conceive how 
they may be communicated, in a less degree than 
they are in Himself, to the substances that are 
about Him, and that each object would receive 
of His nature according to its form. The sub- 
stances that are nearest to Him would receive 
and have His activity and nature in the highest 
degree; they would be alive and potent with 
His vitality, and capable of yielding it in multiple 
forms. Those substances more removed from 
Him would have less of His activity and nature, 
as material substances have less of the sun's 
attributes as they are removed from it. The 
substances nearest to Him, being vitalized by 
Him through juxtaposition, would be charged 
with the endeavor to produce His own form in a 
most perfect degree, just as the sun, so to speak, 
converts the ether into its image by imbuing it 
with heat and light. Thus every minutest par- 
ticle of that highest substance becomes a species 
of body in which appear and are represented the 
will and understanding of the Creator. Primary 

127 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



endeavor can have no other effort than to con- 
vert into its image the object acted upon. And 
indeed, the tendency of every force is to convert 
the substance acted upon into the form of the 
substance in which the force originates. Conse- 
quently the substances of the spiritual world, 
being in the constant endeavor to produce the 
image of the Creator, accomplish their effort 
according to the degree of the acting substance 
and the form in which the acting substance 
operates. Thus the Creator's vital action, through 
the successive discrete degrees in creation, in 
the mind of man produces love and wisdom in 
the human degree; in animals, their instincts; 
in plants, their life, and in matter, its varied 
properties. 

The activity of the highest substance that 
first receives energy from the Creator, most fully 
reproduces His image and likeness. And how- 
"ever low that activity passes, it must in some 
degree reflect the image and likeness of its source. 
The partial perception of this led Professor 
Haeckel to declare that " The two fundamental 
forms of substance, ponderable matter and 
ether, are not dead and only moved by extrin- 
sic force, but they are endowed with sensation 
and will (though naturally of the lowest grade) ; 
they exercise an inclination for condensation, 

128 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



a dislike for strain ; they strive after one and 
struggle against the other." It would have 
been better if Professor Haeckel had said will and 
understanding instead of will and sensation, for 
in the descent of influx from the Divine Will and 
Understanding that endeavor in matter, which 
the Materialists call inherent, is the appearance 
of the Divine Will in ultimate matter, and the 
law according to which that endeavor acts is 
the appearance of the Divine Understanding in 
ultimate matter. This again beautifully illus- 
trates Correspondence, for the endeavor in matter 
and its law of action are in correspondence with 
the Divine Will and Understanding, and they 
are their representation in the plane of passive 
matter. 

The Maximus Homo Or Grand Man. 

Having the subject matter now so fully pre- 
sented, the way is better prepared for a state- 
ment of the law of Correspondence in its most 
general application, from which, when understood, 
particulars are easily and clearly seen. 

It has been shown that the Creator is a Divine 
Human Person of will and understanding, and that 
from His Hum_an, by influx, creation is sustained. 



^The Riddle of the Universe, McCobb's Translation, p. 220. 
9 129 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



It has also been observed that the higher planes 
more fully present a resemblance to Him, which 
resemblance finally diminishes in tiltimate matter 
to what is called the inherent property of matter, 
its endeavor, and the law of its action, the atom's 
will and understanding. It has also been shown 
that in plants the endeavor takes a higher resem- 
blance, that of plant life ; in animals, it becomes 
their instinct and volition; in man it appears as 
his will and understanding. One thing is in the 
form of another, all being sustained from the 
Divine Humanity by Correspondence. The law 
is universal. A city is but a greater man. It is 
simply the faculties common to one mind devel- 
oped in many persons in many directions. A 
nation is but a greater man, the greater develop- 
ment of what is in potency in one man. The inhab- 
itants of the globe are a still greater man, receiving 
more from the Divine Htmianity. The entire 
heavens are a still greater man, and all who 
receive the unperverted influx from the Divine 
Htmianity are the Grand Man, the Maximus 
Homo. All htimanity that receives from the 
Divine Humanity receives only what is therein, 
and so, as it were, is as a whole a htmianity. 

Notice how the mind is a little kingdom of 
powers that serve one another. Reflection, mem- 
ory, perception, reason, judgment, and the like, 

130 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 

serve one another, and make the mind what it is. 
This is illustrated by the body with its organs 
and members. The eyes, the hands, the feet, the 
stomach, and all the organs and members of the 
body serve one another just as the mental 
faculties do, just as men in various offices 
do. They constitute a little kingdom of uses. 
So also of society; so of the human family. 
They are kingdoms of uses, each person being in 
some use, and exercising some particular faculty. 
So of the heavens. They constitute a kingdom 
of uses, each member being in his use. The use 
of one may be on the spiritual plane like that of 
the eye on the material plane, which is to discern 
truth in spiritual light. The use of another is that 
of doing on the spiritual plane as do the hands 
on the material plane. Another performs some 
function in the will, like that of directing; another 
is in some function of the understanding. Each 
one in the heavens is the incarnation as a ruling 
factor of some potency from the Divine Humanity, 
whereby the more that enter the heavens, the 
more perfectly do they represent as a unit the 
Divine Humanity. The heavens are before the 
Lord as one man, of which the individual mem- 
bers are the faculties. Or it may be said that all 
who are in the kingdom of the Lord are as one 
human body, each being in some organ. Since 

131 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

the heavens are sustained by influx from the 
Lord, He, looking upon them in general view, 
sees the reflection of His Divine Humanity as in 
a mirror. In general those who are in supreme 
love to the Lord are the head of this Maximus 
Homo, this Grand Man. Those who are in love to 
the neighbors, are in the body; and those who 
are in simply the love of the external order and 
life of heaven, are in the feet; and each accord- 
ing to his use is in his particular part of his divi- 
sion. Now the point to be grasped is this. There 
is an influx from the Divine Humanity into the 
interiors of the heavens, into their highest func- 
tions, from which there is faculty to perform 
uses. And this influx descends to the spiritual 
body, and operates its organs from Correspond- 
ence. Men upon the earth receive this influx, 
which by Correspondence descends, and operates 
the mind and all the organs of the material body. 
Thus man upon the earth lives by influx from 
the Divine Humanity, and the organs of the 
material body are in Correspondence with the 
Grand Man, which is in Correspondence with 
the Divine Humanity. Therefore Paul said, 
"For as we have many members in one body, 
and all members have not the same ofQce, so we, 
being many, are one body in Christ, and every 
one members one of another, having their gifts 

132 



THE DEGREES IN CREATION 



differing according to the grace that is given to 
us." So the church, composed of many mem- 
bers and receiving varied and many graces from 
the Divine Humanity, is sometimes spoken of as 
the body of the Lord. Out of this doctrine of the 
Grand Man, all particulars of creation unfold. 
Without some understanding of it, how things 
in creation are sustained can not be comprehended. 



133 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE. 



The Soul Is Substantial And An Organized 
Form. 

Having the general ideas of the previous 
chapters well in mind as a basis of further dis- 
cussion, we may proceed to consider particularly 
the organization of man. This will give a more 
definite idea of the constitution of the universe, 
and prepare for further investigation, confirma- 
tions, and conclusions. 

That in man which first receives affection and 
thought from the Creator and has the faculty of 
self-consciousness, must necessarily be an organ- 
ized form. This form is called the soul. That 
the soul is substantial is evident from the same 
reasons that prove the spiritual world to be 
substantial; namely, that causes originate in it 
superior to the nature of matter, and as causes 
can not exist apart from substance, the soul 
must be substantial. 

The assertion that the soul is a substantial, 
organized form is not an hypothesis, but the 

134 



THE DEvSIGN IN STRUCTURE 



inevitable conclusion from the deepest scrutiny 
of the nature of matter and of nature's works. 
But were it an hypothesis, it would be adequately 
proved at every step as well as when the argument 
is seen in its continuity, and the universal crea- 
tion is observed in its order and working unity. 
Neither matter nor an organization of matter 
can love and think, nor can formless substance 
be self-conscious; but spiritual substance organ- 
ized into the human form, being in Correspond- 
ence with the Divine Form, which is a Divine 
Human, can constitute a loving, thinking, self- 
conscious being. 

Spiritual Forms Are Illustrated By Natural 
Forms. 

The human body in its structure and operation 
is a complete illustration of the philosophy of 
creation and of its perpetual sustenance. This 
is because man is a little universe after the pat- 
tern of the greater, and is the image and likeness 
of the Creator. This has always been acknowl- 
edged in regarding man a microcosm, yet in 
modern times with little or no understanding of 
the vast and infinite things involved in calling 
man a little universe. It is because man is a 
microcosm, a complete world in miniature, that 
the human form, when it is understood, presents 

135 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the instrumentality whereby we may investigate 
and understand the larger world of the macro- 
cosm, both spiritual and natural. 

As the human body derives its powers and 
faculties from the soul, and is formed by it, we 
can find in the body a likeness of the soul. The 
body upon the outside, the epidermis, is dead and 
passive. As we pass inward, there is the sensitive 
tissue of the dermis, the muscles, the veins and 
arteries; still more interiorly is the nervous sys- 
tem, and then the nervous fluids that infill it. 
This organism of ascending degrees is thus formed 
that it may receive, contain, and preserve life. 
The epidermis is dead and senseless that it may 
contain and protect the more delicate structures 
within, and provide a basis upon which they 
may rest, as required by the law of power in 
ultimates. The nervous fluids and blood would 
evaporate or flow away without a grosser cover- 
ing. There could be no reflex action without a 
fixed and passive basis that terminates action. 
The nerves would continually suffer were they 
brought immediately in contact with the earth 
and the atmosphere; so they are protected and 
cushioned by an insensate covering. Within 
the nerves are the nervous fluids, which originate 
in the brain, whereby through their purity they 
are in touch with the substances of which affection 

136 



A 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



and thought are predicated. The body ascends 
interiorly by its structure from the insensate, 
passive epidermis, through the tissues, blood, 
and nerves, to the sensitive fluids of the brain, 
and these are so near the vital substance of 
affection and thought that they receive from it 
corresponding activity. By virtue of the struct- 
ure of degrees in the body, the affections are the 
life of the body, their activity being first brought 
down by the law of Correspondence to the material 
plane of the nerve fluid, and thence yielding their 
many potencies, and vitalizing every organ and 
the whole of the material body. 

The Natural Body And Nature Are Com- 
posed Of Like Discrete Degrees In 
Similar Successive Order. 

The natural world is so constituted that it 
can provide the material necessary for the forma- 
tion of the body; materials for the skin, the 
bones, the flesh and blood, the nerves, and the 
nervous fluids. Since the earth, including its at- 
mospheres, contributes from each of its degrees to 
the making of the body, it is evident that the body 
and the earth are composed of the same substance. 

Upon observing the analogy of the earth's 
formation to that of the body, the earth and the 
body appear to be constructed on the same princi- 

137 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

pie and in the same general form. The earth 
ascends from the passive rock by air, ether, and 
aura to the sun, that it may come in contact 
with the sun by proximate substances so sensitive 
as to receive the sun's heat, light, and power, 
and bring them down to the earth. The human 
body ascends from the dead skin by bones, mus- 
cles, nerves, and nervous fluids to the mind's 
heat of affection and light of thought that the 
life and power of the soul may be brought down 
to the lowest things of the body, and vivify it 
in all its functions. The body and nature are 
therefore made of the same substances, and they 
are in the same general form. 

Nature And The Body Receive Activity In 
A Similar Manner. 

Consider how nature receives her activities 
from the sun imparting its potencies to the atmos- 
pheres that lie next to it; how they become 
vitalized with sun-powers, and in turn pass them 
on and dow^n through aura, ether, and air to act 
finally upon the more solid water and earth, and 
there will be had a complete illustration of how 
the body, in all its planes and functions, derives 
its potencies from the affections of the mind; 
for the affections act in a like manner upon the 
highest fluid of the body that lies next below 

138 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



the substance of the affections, and that receives 
their activities and varied potencies, and passes 
them down through the successive degrees of the 
body to its lowest. 

Functional Powers Of The Body Originate In 
The Affections Of The Mind. 

The highest substance of the brain is the first 
material clothing to the spiritual substance of 
affection and thought in the soul; and receiving 
the impact of its activity, the substances of the 
brain assume a corresponding motion. Not only 
does the highest substance in the brain receive 
an impact, but it is imbued with the endeavor 
characteristic of affection in as high a form as 
material substance can receive it. Having 
received the endeavor, it proceeds as of itself to 
effect that endeavor on its own plane. This 
endeavor must necessarily be an effort to gather 
materials in a corresponding form or to constitute 
an organism, like the body, for affection to dwell 
in, and through which affection may operate and 
accomplish its endeavor. Then when the organ- 
ism for affection, which the body is, is formed, 
composed of the senses, the brain, heart, lungs, 
stomach, and the other organs, the same endeavor 
abides in these organs, and gifts them with the 
power to perform their functional uses. 

139 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

From the propelling power in affection, or from 
its collected and concentrated activity, the 
heart beats. Affection, or love, flows into the 
will, where, by the human organism, its endeavor 
is turned into the power of heart-throbs by Cor- 
respondence, just as the endeavor of affection 
is turned into the light of the understanding, 
and thence into the act of the hand. It is because 
of this, that when the desires are ardent and 
intensified, the heart's action quickens: that 
when they are deep and soft, the heart-beats are 
milder, and that the states of affection in general 
have a corresponding effect upon the heart's 
action. That there is such a relation between 
the heart and affection is tacitly perceived in 
calling an affectionate person warm-hearted, or 
a selfish person cold-hearted. The stomach 
digests food from powers derived from affection 
and thought. Memory is the mind's stomach 
where knowledge is stored for the use of the 
desires. The affections digest knowledge by 
selecting and appropriating things from observa- 
tion and memory, favoring one class and rejecting 
another. Affection operating in the mind has 
the power of digesting mental things, and of 
appropriating them to use. The body, by virtue 
of its form, converts the mental digestive powers 
to physical ones. So it is that a happy and 

140 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



active mental state is conducive to digestion. 
There is nothing done in the stomach in a physical 
way that is not done in the mind in a mental 
way. The function of the lungs is like that of 
the stomach. They select homogeneous materials 
from the air and excrete the heterogeneous, as 
the stomach does with its food. The lungs derive 
the power of separating the homogeneous from 
the heterogeneous, and of appropriating the use- 
ful, from affection's power of perceiving and 
appropriating the agreeable and of rejecting the 
disagreeable. The mental power, soul power, 
or spiritual power is turned by the bodily organism 
into a corresponding physical one by the activity 
of a higher degree being communicated to a next 
lower discrete degree as endeavor, which endeavor 
continues action according to the receiving 
form. The same is true of the kidneys, liver, 
and every organ of the body. Because 
affection proceeds from and is vitalized by 
the Divine Human, there is in affection, which 
is the life of the man and of the body, every po- 
tency; so that only the organism is needed to 
bring out any specific power. That affection is 
able to operate the body in all its functions, con- 
sidering the high quality of affection's substance 
and the superior mechanism of the body, is no 
more marvellous or difficult to conceive than 



141 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



that the car we daily ride in should, through the 
mechanism of the vehicle, receive from a copper 
wire the substance that furnishes the power to 
rotate its wheels, the light to light it, and the 
heat to warm it. Power, light, and heat are all 
tmfolded out of the substance of ether through 
the diverse organs of the car, namely, the motor, 
the incandescent burner, and the radiator. Each 
mechanism of the car receives power from the 
current of electricity, as endeavor, and each 
expends the endeavor according to its form. It 
is the same with the higher and more potent 
life-current of affection from the Creator, which 
is received into the soul and similarly manifested 
in diverse character through the more highly 
constituted organs of the body. 

The Soul Is Animated From The Creator. 

Having traced the origin of the powers and 
faculties of the body to the affections of the mind, 
it now remains to account for the origin of the' 
affections and faculties of the mind or soul. 

To have a common starting place in thought, 
let the soul mean all that organism within the 
body that is made of substance superior to the 
natural world. In the material body there is a 
mind-organism of brain and nerves, and in the 
brain and nerves there is the most pure material 

142 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



fltiid of the body, which is the first material 
clothing to spiritual substance, and the first 
active essential in the body. The spiritual organi- 
zation of man is similar, there being a spiritual 
body in which there are a like brain and nerves 
made of spiritual substance. This brain with 
its nerves constitutes the organ of the mind in 
the soul. So we can think of the soul as composed 
of the spiritual body, corresponding to the material 
body; of the mind, corresponding to the brain 
and its ramifications ; and of the substance of its 
inmost activity, corresponding to the sensitive 
fluids in the nerves, which as an organism may be 
called the Inmost. The Inmost will be considered 
more in detail later. (Diagram II, page 155.) 

That the soul is such a form, is evident from 
the perception that the body is a system of effects 
that never could have had existence except from 
a corresponding system of causes. Further and 
particular reasons in confirmation of the soul 
being such an organism will be given in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

Holding the idea of the soul, then, as an organ- 
ism composed of substances of the spiritual world 
arranged in successive planes as the material 
body is formed from the material world, we are 
prepared to consider how the soul derives its life. 

It has already been shown that God, the Crea- 
143 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

tor, is a Divine Person, The Man, in whom are 
all human elements in their infinitude. To 
account therefore for the life of the soul, it remains 
only to say that as the body ascends from the 
dead skin to the sensitive fluids of the nerves, 
which respond to the activity of affection and 
thought, so the spiritual body ascends from its 
grosser substance that lies next to nature to its 
organism of most pure and sensitive substances, 
called the Inmost, that are sensitive and responsive 
to the vital action and power in the Creator. In 
other words, as the body by means of its interior 
and high organization ascends to and receives its 
life from the soul, so the soul by means of its 
interior and high organization ascends to and 
receives life and power from God, the Creator 
and Sustainer. 

The Creator Is Present In The Soul Not 
Bodily, But By Influx. 

The Creator is not present in the soul with 
His own Divine Substance, but He has so formed 
man that He can be present by communicated 
activity and life. This is illustrated in nature's 
methods. The natural world is a form ascending 
by successive degrees or planes to receive the 
sun's vitality. The body is a natural correspond- 
ing form of ascending degrees responsive to the 

144 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



vitalized planes in nature, and is thereby in com- 
munion with nature's powers. The sun actuates 
nature, and nature actuates the body. The sun 
is not present in nature with its own matter, but 
through the responsive aura, ether, and air it 
imparts its vitality to the ultimate earth, in which 
the body lives, and with which it is in Correspond- 
ence. The soul is a form organized to be in 
touch with the degrees of the spiritual world 
vivified by the Creator as the body is in touch 
with the planes in nature vivified by the sun. 
We have a universal pattern from which to think, 
one form illustrating another, and all confirming 
each; namely, that the body ascends by interior 
and successively higher planes or degrees in its 
organization to receive activity and power from 
the mind or soul; the soul likewise ascends to 
receive life and potency from the Creator; the 
natural world ascends to receive activity from the 
sun which receives activity from the spiritual 
world, and the spiritual world ascends to receive 
vitality from the Creator. The soul is a paral- 
lelism of the body, the spiritual world is a parallel- 
ism of the natural world, and the Divine Human 
of the Creator is a parallelism of the human 
organization; whereby the lower forms are in 
Correspondence with the Divine Human, and are 
sustained by the Creator. 

lo 145 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

It may be remarked here, although introducing 
a fact subsequently to be elaborated, that nature, 
ascending by discrete degrees from the earth to 
the aura, and thus being vivified, through its 
discrete degrees acts upon the corresponding 
degrees of the body ; and that the spiritual world, 
through its discrete degrees ascending likewise 
to the Creator to be vivified by Him, acts upon 
the corresponding ones of the soul. This is com- 
prehended in intelligently calling man a micro- 
cosm; for in a definite and scientific sense man 
is a little universe in Correspondence with the 
greater. 

The Universal Creation Is Sustained By In- 
flux From The Creator Into And 
Through Discrete Degrees. 

Now as we have traced creation upward to the 
fountain of life, let us conceive of it by looking 
from above downward. Think of God, the Creator 
and Sustainer, within and above all, as the sun 
of the spiritual world, and whose very form is 
the Divine Human in which is every faculty, 
power, or capability. Next about Him lies the 
first created substance most sensitive and respon- 
sive to His own vital action, and so pure and 
plastic as to be imbued with the Divine nature 
in Him just as the aura is charged with the nature 

146 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



of the sun. Next below this, as ether is below 
aura, and as the air is below ether, is other spirit- 
ual substance a discrete degree lower, adapted 
to receive the activity of the first created sub- 
stance. Thus the spiritual creation descends 
until the natural world is reached, which occurs 
in the purest substance of the sun. The sun being 
the first natural clothing of the substances of the 
spiritual world, takes upon itself activity from 
the universal activity of the spiritual world, 
whereby it is sustained. The sun in turn actuates 
the atmospheres, and these the more solid matter 
of the earth. Thus creation descends from the 
Creator by successive degrees, and is sustained 
by Him. This mode of communicating activity 
or power is called influx, which passes down 
according to the law of Correspondence. 

The Unity Of Plan Is Universal. 

The unity of plan that science demonstrates 
to exist in particulars has no limitation. There 
is also a universal unity of plan that extends 
much further than naturalists have conceived, and 
includes all things natural and spiritual. Natural- 
ists restore the whole animal from a few bones 
and parts; so when the universal unity of plan 
that runs through the body and the natural world 
is perceived, their spiritual counterparts are 
. 147 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



easily comprehended. Having been given the 
factor of the known natural body, a knowledge 
of the soul becomes definite: and from the given 
member of the understood material world, the 
spiritual world can be known; and from all, 
God the Creator, can be comprehended. The 
doctrine made known- by revelation that God 
created man in His own image and likeness, and 
that man is a microcosm and the universe a 
macrocosm, is but the unity of plan carried to its 
inevitable conclusion. Consequently the results 
here reached are in accord with the conclusions 
of generally accepted science. 

A Diagram Of The Natural And The Spiritual 
Universe Illustrating Their General 
Similarity Of Form. 

Diagram i, though crude and inadequate in 
many respects, is introduced to present a rudi- 
mentary image of the universe as to its degrees 
in successive order. 

f, e, d, c, represent respectively the earth, air, 
ether, and aura, or the succession of natural 
effects and the material substances in which they 
reside. F, E, D, and C represent their super- 
natural causes and the substances in which they 
reside. For want of better names F, E, D, and C 
may be called respectively the Spiritual Earth, 

148 



Diadram I 

' The 
Creator 

A 

^ / 1 j ^\l)ivine\Proceedin^ 

^ ' \ /^Geles^ial Atmosphere 

r:^:^^^^ Spiritual 

Almosphere 
> Spiritual-Natural 
Atmosphere 

Spiritual 
Earth 





^/ 1 t\^Ws Flame or 




Proximate Proceeding 

Aura 
Ether 
Air 



Earth 



149 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



and the Spiritual-Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial 
Atmospheres, b represents those substances 
in or about the sun, from which the earth and its 
atmospheres were formed, that are purer and finer 
than those of the earth, and that do not come 
down to it. The Sun's Flame or Proximate 
Proceeding, b, is an effect in which the end and 
the cause exist, for the sun, like every particular 
thing, is composed of three continuous degrees 
by means of which it is adapted to receive through 
the spiritual world influx from the Creator, and 
to continue the influx. B represents correspond- 
ing spiritual substances superior to those of the 
human organism, and proximate to the Creator. 
As they are the first medium by which activity 
proceeds from the Creator and are therefore 
most fully charged with the Divine nature they 
are properly called the Divine Proceeding, popu- 
larly thought of under the term Holy Spirit, a 
represents the sun; and A, the Creator. The 
diagram illustrates how the natural universe and 
the spiritual universe are parallelisms. 

The spiritual creation is to be thought of just 
as the natural creation, composed of ^ earth and 
atmospheres, is, only it is to be conceived of as 
composed of substances so pure and high as to 
belong to a more interior world than nature. 
Life-forces originate in A, the Creator, are com- 

150 



THE DESIGN IN STRUCTURE 



municated to B, the Divine Proceeding, and thence 
passing successively to C, D, E, F, animate the 
spiritual creation. From the spiritual world 
life-forces pass to a, the sun, and thence through 
b, successively to c, d, e, and f , thereby animating 
the natural universe. Later, when preparation is 
made, we shall speak also of another influx. 



CHAPTER IX. 
THE HUMAN STRUCTURE. 



The Soul Is The Formative Element In The 
Natural Body, And Is A Complex 
Spiritual Structure. 

It is evident from what has been said in the 
previous chapter that the soul is a substantial, 
organized form. ''Ex nihilo nihil fit,'' is wisely- 
quoted against the doctrine that the world was 
made out of nothing. If from nothing nothing 
comes, causes that transcend the nature of matter 
can not come from nothing. They must originate 
in substance. Weismann, in his "Germ Plasm," 
and other scientists have ably proved that there 
are forces at work in the animal body superior 
to those ordinarily treated, which control the 
cell. For the same reason that there must be 
an invisible substance that permeates the germ 
cell and controls its particles and adjusts them, 
there must be a substance that permeates the 
aggregate of cells or the whole body, and regulates 
it. This organism, necessarily superior to matter, 
is the soul, the spiritual structure upon which 

152 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



the body is builded, the essential architect of 
the material form. 

It is the particular, delicate, and complex 
organization of the soul and its superior order 
of substances that enable it to be endowed with 
the faculties of affection, thought, sensation, and 
the essentials of self -consciousness. The soul is 
not like a marble statue with all its molecules in 
a common mass„ That it thinks and loves, shows 
that it is most highly organized. It must have 
organs for its faculties and powders. No faculty 
or power exists in the body apart from an organ 
of which it is predicated. The organs of the soul 
are as nimierous as those of the body, indeed they 
are like them; for the soul forms the body by 
Correspondence, whereby the organs of the body 
are operated by corresponding ones of the soul. 
The soul could not construct the body in any 
other than its own form; consequently the body 
is an organism like the soul, and clothes it part 
for part. As the particles of dust disclose the form 
of the invisible air in the whirlwind, so the body 
reveals the form of the soul. 

Having shown that the soul and the spiritual 
world are real, substantial forms, we are prepared 
to consider their structure in particulars. To bring 
at once before the mind the human structure in its 
successive degrees, diagram II is here introduced. 

153 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



g represents the natural body. G represents 
the Spiritual Body, f, e, d, represent respectively 
the Sensual, Scientific, and Rational planes of 
the Natural Mind. F, E, and D represent respec- 
tively the Spiritual-Natural, Spiritual, and Ce- 
lestial planes of the Spiritual Mind. C represents 
the Inmost, or most interior plane of man. B is 
the Divine Proceeding or Holy Spirit. A repre- 
sents the Creator, from whom all are sustained. 
Let us observe some of the reasons whereby it 
is known that such degrees exist, and consider 
what they are. 

The lowest plane of the mind in the body is 
the sensual, f, by which is meant that plane of 
the mind that sees, hears, feels, smells, and tastes. 
The senses are faculties not of the body, but of 
the mind that is in the body. This plane the 
infant develops first. The first delights of 
infants are the delights of the sensual plane, for 
the higher planes are not yet opened or developed. 
Prior to the development of the Sensual plane, 
all that the infant sees, hears, feels, smells, or 
tastes is felt and seems to be within it at the seat 
of sensation. The sounds from without are as 
though they were within, and all experience is 
nothing other than the infant's own being. Before 
distance is learned, the landscape is without per- 
spective. The infant will reach for things distant 

154 



Diagram n 




Procee'dingj 



The Inmost Cc 

Celestial Oi 
Spiritual ^c^^ 



Spiritual-/*, 
Natural 



Spiritual 
Body 

Rational 



Scientific 



Natural 
^Q^^Body 



A The 

VSpiritual or 
^ Y Internal 
\Mind or 
\ Man 





155 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



as readily as for an object but a few feet away. 
Before its senses are developed, all things blend 
in unclassified mass. By reaching, it learns 
distance. By observing, it places sound at its 
mother's lips. By experience, it learns to see, 
hear, smell, taste, and feel correctly. This learning 
is called sensual knowledge. That plane of the 
mind in which sensual life acts and into which 
sensual knowledge is gathered is the Sensual plane. 
Or it may be said that the plane of the mind 
employed only in the exercise of the senses is 
the Sensual. 

By means of the senses set in the body, facts 
are learned, as that birds fly; the sun shines; 
certain foods are wholesome; heat makes steam, 
and the like. Thus by means of the senses there 
is gathered a series of facts distinctly above 
the merely sensual experiences. These facts 
are those of science, and the plane of the mind 
that contains them, or is formed by them, is the 
Scientific, e. The Scientific plane is distinctly 
separated from the Sensual, it being a discrete 
degree higher. To observe the distinction it 
should be noticed that the mind is composed 
of substances wrought into forms. The Sensual 
plane is composed of forms wrought in its sub- 
stance by impressions made upon the senses. 
The Scientific plane is composed of forms wrought 

156 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



in its substance by the use of the senses or of the 
Sensual plane. Or it may be said that the Scien- 
tific plane is formed from scientific life and knowl- 
edge. It is composed of effects that are received 
through the Sensual, together with effects that 
are derived from the higher planes of the mind, 
and is separated from the Sensual as effect is from 
cause. This relation of cause and effect exists 
between adjacent planes of the mind. 

The Scientific plane having acquired impres- 
sions through the use of the senses whereby there 
is the knowledge of facts, the Rational plane, d, 
uses that knowledge, and deduces a series of 
rational conclusions distinctly superior to the 
plane of scientific facts. It is a scientific fact that 
the earth appears flat; also that as a ship ap- 
proaches, the top of the mast is first visible, and 
the hull last: but it is a rational truth that the 
earth must therefore be a globe. It is a scientific 
truth that the sun gives heat and light; and it 
appears that, as vegetation will not grow without 
heat and light, the sun makes it grow; but it is 
a rational truth that the sun merely furnishes 
condition while other forces give shape to plants. 
The child, because the Rational plane is not yet 
formed, wonders if there are mermaids in the 
ocean or centaurs on the land: the scholar from 
his knowledge of the unity of plan concludes 

157 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



that there never could have been such forms. 
This latter is a rational truth. So by means of 
scientific facts, a new plane of rational thought is 
formed. This is the Rational plane, a discrete 
degree higher than the Scientific plane. It is 
formed from rational knowledge and its life. 

Not only is it evident that these three planes 
exist in the human constitution, but also we know 
that they are developed in the order given, and 
are related as cause and effect. The infant lives 
in the Sensual plane until that is formed suffi- 
ciently to obtain scientific facts, for there is nothing 
else for it to live in. The child can not live above 
the Scientific plane until the Rational is formed 
by the use of scientific facts. The infant experi- 
ences sensation, and forms the Sensual plane. The 
child asks the what, and forms the Scientific plane. 
The youth inquires of the why, and forms the 
Rational plane. When these three planes are 
formed, there are three distinct orders of life to 
enjoy, that of sensation, elevated and corrected 
by mental development; that of facts or science, 
embracing all the facts of natural science; and 
that of rational truths. These three discrete 
planes form and constitute the Natural Mind. 
The Natural Mind is that which is frequently 
though vaguely designated as the lower nature of 
man. The Natural Mind is the natural man. 

158 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



The Spiritual Mind Is Developed In The 
Same Manner That The Natural 
Mind Is. 

While the Natural Mind is passing through this 
orderly development, the Spiritual Mind is under- 
going changes in preparation for its own similar 
advancement on its distinctive planes. As there 
is an influx through it to the Natural Mind, the 
designed development of the Natural Mind opens 
the Spiritual Mind to a greater and stronger 
influx whereby it is all prepared for its easy and 
rapid progress in its mission when the Natural 
Mind has reached the required state. 

It is not intended that human development 
should stop with the acquisition of rational 
truths. The Rational plane exists that as man 
ascends from truths of the scientific order to those 
of a rational order, so he may by means of the 
Rational ascend to those lying just above or back 
of rational truths, which are the lowest truths 
or facts of the spiritual world. The lowest plane 
of truth in the spiritual world, analogous to the 
natural laws of the natural world, some have 
called the ''natural laws of the spiritual world." 
This is a misnomer. We have chosen to call it 
the spiritual-natural plane; and the laws, spirit- 
ual-natural laws. The plane of the mind that 

159 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



perceives spiritual-natural laws, or is formed by 
them and their life, is properly called the Spiritual- 
Natural, F. 

The distinctness of the Spiritual-Natural plane 
from the Rational may be thus explained. The 
spiritual world is the realm of causes, for all 
causes originate there. The proximate causes of 
effects in the natural world are the lowest forces 
and laws of the spiritual world, or spiritual- 
natural laws. The Rational plane is for the pur- 
pose of ascending to the knowledge of causes, 
or what is the same, to the understanding of 
spiritual-natural laws ; hence the Spiritual-Natural 
is separated from the Rational as the causes in 
the spiritual world are distinct from their highest 
effects in the natural world. Since the laws of 
the spiritual world appertain to that world, the 
plane of the mind that is formed by them or 
contains the impressions made by the perception 
of them, belongs specifically to the spiritual world, 
and is a plane of the Spiritual Mind. Spiritual- 
natural laws are not far removed from our ex- 
perience and comprehension, for they include 
familiar laws of the mind, which is a spiritual 
form belonging to the spiritual world. 

Spiritual-natural laws are the laws natural to 
the mind as distinguished from those of the body. 
They are the laws of common morality. That 

i6o 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



fear, hatred, anger, despondency, and the like, 
destroy the peace of the mind, and therefore 
should be shunned; that goodwill, gentleness, 
charity, and the like are useful to the mind and 
rejoice it, and similar laws, are spiritual-natural 
laws. These laws may be comprehended by 
means of rational truths or the Rational plane. 
If the Rational plane is guided by the Spiritual- 
Natural plane, or what is the same, by spiritual- 
natural laws, man will be a true reasoner; if it 
is not guided with reference to the order and law 
of the spiritual world, one becomes a false rea- 
soner. The spiritual-natural truths or laws are 
those of the spiritual world that first underlie 
a life in this world, and bring the mind into 
Divine order. Rational truths enable us to know 
what these laws are. They manifest themselves 
in the natural world as civil-moral life and truth, 
like the doing of good to others, respecting their 
rights, and the shunning of all ways and states 
that are detrimental to prosperity and peace, or 
that are contrary to the natural law^s of the 
mind's welfare, and this from simple obedience 
and without any special affection for things 
superior to the natural pleasure, harmony, and 
use of good moral order. Through the Rational 
the truths of a good moral life are obtained and a 
distinct plane of life is formed. That this plane 

II i6i 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



is distinctly higher than the Rational is again 
evident from some men not attaining moral 
truths or a moral life, though they are strong 
reasoners. They, having neither the perceptions 
of spiritual order nor the impressions of good- 
willing, fail to open and to form the Spiritual- 
Natural, which is constituted by moral truths 
with their life. Such are false reasoners because 
their Rational does not lead them to the percep- 
tion of moral truths, the purpose of which is to 
guide and direct the Rational. All spiritual men 
are rational, but not all rational men are spiritual. 
The Spiritual-Natural plane is above the Rational 
plane just as a good moral life is superior to a 
merely rational life, which may be false and evil. 
A good moral life originates in opening and form- 
ing the Spiritual-Natural plane. 

Next above the Spiritual-Natural is the Spirit- 
ual plane, E. What this is and its distinctness 
may appear by contrast with the Spiritual- 
Natural. The Spiritual- Natural is opened and 
formed by a knowledge of and a life according 
to the external laws of the spiritual world, but 
without any concern about their origin or cause. 
The Spiritual plane is opened and formed not 
merely by the order, harmony, and delights of 
Spiritual-Natural laws, or the external laws 
of the spiritual world, but by the perceptions 

i6? 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



of their causes and origin and the conseqtient 
dehghts originating in the wisdom of spiritual 
things; or, what is the same, it is formed by the 
affections for and the knowledge of spiritual 
truths and their uses. If we forgive others God 
will forgive us, becomes to us a spiritual truth 
when we see that it is true because God is pure 
love, and that the only thing that exists between 
us and God is the grudge in our own hearts, which 
shuts out God's love, and that when that grudge 
is removed then love from God flows into us, and 
fills us with tender compassion where there was 
hatred toward our enemies. In a sentence, the 
spiritual sense of the Word, which is spiritual 
truth, forms the spiritual plane of the mind 
when we learn it, love it, and obey it. 

The highest plane of the mind is the Celestial, 
D. It is distinguished from the Spiritual in being 
formed not by the knowledge and delights of 
spiritual truths, but by celestial truth in which 
celestial love is dominant. The Celestial plane 
is opened by living according to spiritual truths 
until the entire mind is brought into order by the 
dispersion of the false and evil, and so rectified 
that one can receive love from the Creator, act from 
it without conscious thought, and sensate its 
unperverted activity. In a summary, the celestial 
sense of the Word, which treats of love to the 

163 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

Lord, forms the Celestial plane of the mind- 
Love is the dominant, active element in the 
Celestial; wisdom is dominant in the Spiritual; 
and the outward harmony and order of love and 
wisdom are supreme in the Spiritual-Natural. 
Those who attain only the development of the 
Spiritual-Natural, are prepared for and enter 
at death the Spiritual-Natural heaven. Those 
who have added to this the opening of the Spirit- 
ual plane of the mind enter the Spiritual heaven. 
Those who pass through the development of these 
two planes, and in whom the Celestial plane is 
opened, finally enter the third or the Celestial 
heaven. The three degrees may be compared 
respectively to heat, light, and their effects in 
nature; or to the natural sense, the spiritual 
sense, and the celestial sense of the Word. Love 
which is spiritual heat, characterizes the Celestial ; 
wisdom, which is spiritual light, the Spiritual; 
and the operation or effects of these in the ulti- 
mates of the spiritual world, causing outward 
order and harmony, distinguish the Spiritual- 
Natural. These three planes may be illustrated 
respectively by three classes of people; one sees 
only things, another sees laws governing things, 
and another has his mind opened to the love that 
is within the governing law. Hence it is con- 
cluded that the Spiritual Mind is composed of 

164 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



three distinct planes or discrete degrees. These 
three degrees may be again illustrated by three 
persons ; the Celestial, by one who does all things 
from a love so intuitive and discerning that the 
processes of thought are not conscious in effi- 
cient and correct action ; the Spiritual, by another 
who does likewise, but from the thought of what 
is right and just; and the Spiritual-Natural, by 
another who does the same, but only from sim- 
ple obedience or from the delights and uses of 
external harmony. 

In saying that scientific truths are obtained 
by means of the senses, or that a higher plane is 
developed by means of the next lower, it is not 
to be thought that the senses discover scientific 
truths, or that any lower plane of truth can 
reach up and obtain a higher. The particular 
office performed by a lower plane of knowledge 
is that it acts as an ultimate for the insinuation 
and development of the next higher. For so man 
ascends this Jacob's ladder. 

The Inmost Is The Most Interior Structure 
Of The Human Organization, And As 
Such It Is The First To Receive 
Influx From The Creator. 

There is yet one other essential of the human 
form, that called the Inmost, C. It is the most 

165 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



internal structure of the soul, and first receives 
the efflux of life from the Creator. It takes upon 
itself an activity most perfectly corresponding 
to that in Him, and communicates it to the mind 
that invests and contains it. The Inmost is not 
a part of the mind, since it is a distinctly higher 
plane, and is above human consciousness. Though 
having the highest degree of activity, it does 
not think; but the mind which invests it, consti- 
tuting a sensoriimi, receives its activity as affection 
and thought. The function of the Inmost is to 
receive activity from the Creator, and to com- 
municate it to the mind, while the relative office 
of the mind is to receive that activity, which 
reception the mind experiences as affection and 
thought. 

That there must be such an organism as the 
Inmost distinct from the mind is apparent, for 
there is that which impresses and the thing 
impressed. Spencer rightly reasons in saying 
"The term sensation .... tacitly, if not 
openly, postulates a sensitive organism and 
something acting upon it; and can scarcely be 
employed without bringing these postulates into 
the thoughts and embodying them in the 
inferences."^ The mind is the sensitive organ- 



^ First Principles, p. 143. 
166 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



ism, and it is the Inmost that acts upon it. Again 
in reasoning about consciousness of self, he says, 
" If, then, the object perceived is self, what is 
the subject that perceives? or if it is the true 
self that thinks, what other self can it be that 
is thought of?" In endeavoring to answer the 
question, this sad but familiar conclusion ensues. 
" Clearly, a true cognition of self implies a state 
in which the knowing and the known are one — 
in which subject and object are identified; and 
this Mr. Mansel rightly holds to be the annihila- 
tion of both. So that the personality of which 
each is conscious, and of which the existence 
is a fact beyond all others the most certain, is 
yet a thing which can not truly be known at 
all; knowledge of it is forbidden by the very 
nature of thought."^ Having levelled all things 
to the plane of matter, and consequently not 
recognizing the discrete degrees in the human 
constitution and the phenomenon of existence 
through their reciprocal action, Spencer arrives 
at this conclusion. It well confirms what has 
been said, that without a knowledge of the dis- 
crete degrees in creation nothing of causes can 
be comprehended. The existence of the Inmost 
distinctly above the mind, and first receiving 



^ First Principles, p. 65. 
167 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



activity from the Creator, and the conception 
of the mind as the sensorium upon which the 
Inmost acts, removes all difficulty. The mind 
itself, being the sensorium, can be conscious of 
itself. The Inmost is above human consciousness, 
because at one time a thing can not be the subject 
and object of thought. The organism of the mind 
is within the spiritual body as the brain with its 
branches is within the material body. The In- 
most is within the mind-organism as the purest 
fluid of the body is within the brain and its ex- 
tension of nerves. The Inmost receives activity 
from the Creator, and passes it to the mind just 
as the purest fluid in the brain receives activity 
from the spiritual substances of affection and 
thought, and communicates it to the nerves. 

The activity first passing from the Creator 
is the Divine of the Lord going forth, and is 
properly called the Divine Proceeding, B. In 
it are all creative powers. "Thou sendest forth 
Thy Spirit, they are created." 

A is the Creator, the Father of all. "Hath not 
one God created us?" 

The Limbus. 

It will next be noticed that the lowest degree 
of matter contributes to the formation of the 
grosser part of the material body, that the ether 

i68 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



provides the nerve fluids, and that the highest 
atmosphere about the globe supplies the materials 
for the highest part of the material body that 
is next to the spirit. The highest organization 
of the material body is its inmost. It is called 
the Limbus (border), because it borders on the 
spirit. The Limbus provides the connection 
between the spiritual body and the grosser part 
of the material body. It is shown in Diagram 
IV., p. 312. 

A knowledge of the uses of the Limbus pro- 
vides the explanation of the relation between 
the life lived in this world, and what it must be 
in the other, and a beautiful philosophy of the 
relation of the soul to the body. By the Limbus 
existence here is made possible, as well as in the 
hereafter. In it lies the fixity of human character 
and the preservation of our identity through the 
countless ages in the spiritual world. A knowl- 
edge of its uses also presents the serious side of 
life by showing how our failure to fulfil life's 
higher purposes here must bear its effects forever. 
It makes the Christian life one worthy of every 
sacrifice, and of constant interest and zeal by 
revealing how momentous our defects and how 
great and lasting our virtues are. 

The Limbus is that plane or substance in the 
body that first responds to affection and thought. 

169 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

Affection and thought form its contexture. They 
weave the woof and warp of the Limbus. Con- 
sequently the whole life is registered in the 
Limbus, as sound with its quality and variation 
is recorded in a phonograph. It is therefore the 
seat of the external memory, preserving with 
infinite perfection and fulness the entire life. 
Every thought, affection, and impulse, every 
impression that has been made upon the body, 
even such as the unconscious tremor of a gas-jet, 
if it has flickered upon the retina, is indelibly 
written there with faultless accuracy. The ex- 
ternal life in flowing in and the internal life in 
flowing out are photographed there with the 
perfection of nature's highest law. In the Limbus 
is the book of each one's life that is opened in 
the final judgment, and compared to that ''other 
book," the Word of God. Nothing can pass the 
door either way that does not become there a 
fixed part of the human organization. Its abid- 
ing form, on the one hand stamping our evils 
upon us in perverted forms that close the door 
against the Spirit of God, and on the other weav- 
ing forms receptive of the holiness and love of 
God, says to us auspiciously, "For ye make clean 
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but 
within they are full of extortion and excess." 
The uses of the Limbus show religion to be not 

170 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



merely a theory, but sound, wise, and righteous, 
daily thinking, loving, and living. 

At death the Limbus is not cast off from the 
spiritual body along with the m.aterial body. 
It quiesces, and becomes as the outer cuticle of 
the spiritual body. Nor is it carried into the 
spiritual world. It still remains in the natural 
world, for though it is formed from the purest 
substances in nature, it can not be carried into 
the spiritual world. It rests upon the atmos- 
pheres, which in turn rest upon the earth, whereby 
its form is preserved from without as the natural 
body is by the pressure of the air; and its form 
is preserved by the spirit from within as the 
material basis of the eternal permanency of the 
soul. The Limbus performs the physical use of 
holding the purer substances of the spirit in form 
after the rejection of the material body at death, 
just as the skin of the body holds in form the 
volatile substances within it. 

The angelic heavens rest upon the plane of the 
Limbus in nature, and by that and successive 
atmospheres lastly upon the solid parts of the 
earth. In a most real way the earth is the foot- 
stool " of angelic life and of God's creation. With- 
out the Limbus the spiritual bodies of the inhabi- 
tants of the other world would dissolve, like 
decaying bodies, and life there would perish. 

171 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The future life must be in Correspondence with 
the ruling life fixed in the Limbus, for the influx 
must be determined by the basis, or ultimate, 
into which it is received. The interior life could 
by no possible law or reason be any other than a 
reactive effect of the exterior basis. The founda- 
tion must determine the form of the superstruct- 
ure. Upon the quiescence of the Limbus the 
acquired life becomes fixed. Therefore at death, 
character and spiritual possibilities are deter- 
mined by the fixed plane in the Limbus acquired 
by the quality of the life lived in the natural 
world. It is not by arbitrary judgment, but 
through the inexorable laws of creation that all 
are recompensed ''according to their deeds'*; 
that those who have lived for self alone, ''go 
aw^ay into everlasting punishment"; and that 
those who have done good to their brethren, 
enter "into life eternal." 

The different degrees of life in the spiritual 
world have the basis in the Limbus. If the 
basis of any discrete degree of spiritual life is 
not laid in the Limbus, it can not be opened 
in the spiritual world. If life such as is with 
the angels of any of the three heavens does 
not have a basis fixed in the ultimate, the 
corresponding degrees of the internal mind 
close, and fix the "great gulf", so that they 

172 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



who would pass from Lazarus to Dives ''can 
not.'' 

The Limbus is the ultimate to all the planes 
of the Internal Mind. It has been shown that 
degrees of height are in fulness and power in 
their ultimates; and since interior things of suc- 
cessively higher discrete degrees are simulta- 
neously present in their ultimates, coexisting there 
and acting therewith, it is evident that any plane 
of the mind that has not an ultimate fixed in the 
Limbus, can have no power, and hence can not 
come to human consciousness. 

The creative power does not stop at inter- 
mediate degrees and there form permanent 
things, for there would be no containing vessel 
or basis; but creative power proceeds to the 
ultimate, where it is in its fulness and power, 
and thence forms. Procreations can take place 
therefore only upon the earth, where formations 
commence. The end of creation is the human 
race; and this end, by means of the spiritual 
world as cause, continues from the Creator to the 
natural world, the effect; and the end reappears 
in the effect by the earth being the seminary of 
heaven through the procreation of human beings. 
From the foregoing it may be seen that procrea- 
tions of the human race can take place only upon 
the ultimate plane of an earth, and that all the 

173 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



angels of heaven were once people upon an earth 
from which the Limbus must be taken. They 
gained the ''Father's house" by doing "His 
commandments," which are the "sum" of the 
entire laws of the operation of the saving powers 
of His Spirit. This is in accord with the Word. 
When John saw the resplendent angel who minis- 
tered at the throne, he fell down to worship him. 
But the angel was only a man, like John, made 
perfect by obeying the teachings of the Word. 
So he said, "See thou do it not, for I am thy 
fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets, 
and of them that keep the sayings of this Book: 
worship God." 

They who lay a basis in the Limbus for the 
degree of life in which the natural angels are, 
will come into the life of the angels of the Spirit- 
ual-Natural heaven. They can advance on that 
plane without limitation, but they can not be 
sustained in a more interior degree of life, 
without preparation. Likewise of the spiritual 
degree of angelic life. But those who, through the 
fulfilment of the law and the finishing of the 
Father's business," enter in this world into the 
love of the Lord as a ruling element, thereby 
fixing the ultimate of celestial life in the Limbus, 
are raised after death to the celestial degree of 
angelic life, and they are forever sustained 

174 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



therein. In those who have attained supreme 
love to the Lord, all the planes of the Internal 
Mind have their ultimates developed and fixed in 
the Limbus, in which they subsist in simul- 
taneous order. Therefore influx can pass from 
the Lord through all the discrete degrees or planes 
of the mind to their ultimates, and take on 
there quality from the Limbus, which is deter- 
mined by the life lived while in the body. And 
since there is power in a higher degree because its 
power is in fulness in its ultimate, life in the 
higher degree, or heavenly life, is possible only 
when its ultimate is formed in the Limbus. 

The Limbus of those who die in infancy, be- 
cause such are in innocency and the limbus is 
not filled and fixed, is filled and formed after 
death as a basis from which they are elevated 
into heavenly life. For, as we have shown, 
degrees of height are in fulness and power in 
their ultimates; and since interior things of 
successively higher discrete degrees are simul- 
taneously present in their ultimates, coexisting 
therewith and acting as one, it is evident 
that any plane of the mind that has not an 
ultimate fixed in the Limbus can have no 
power, and hence cannot come into human 
consciousness. 



J75 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The Successive Planes Of The Body Are 
Formed From The Coincident Planes Of 
Material Substances. 

The natural body is formed from the different 
degrees of matter. The lower parts of the body, 
the skin, bones, and flesh are composed of the 
lowest discrete degree of matter, the earthy and 
aerial substances. The nerve system employs 
in addition the still higher discrete degree of 
ether in which is electricity : the ethereal matter 
furnishes the medium through which the muscles 
are operated from the mind. The purest matter 
in the brain constituting the Limbus, is from the 
purest aura, a still higher discrete degree. In 
such order the material body is formed. 

The Successive Planes Of The Soul Are 
Formed From The Coincident Planes 
Of Spiritual Substances. 

The soul is formed from the degrees of the 
substances that constitute the spiritual creation 
in the same manner that the body is formed from 
the natural world. The spiritual body as to its 
lower parts is formed from the lower substances 
of the spiritual world or the spiritual earth. The 
lower atmosphere of the spiritual world enters 
in to form the Spiritual-Natural plane; a still 

176 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



higher atmosphere furnishes substance for the 
formation of the spiritual plane, and a still higher 
contributes to the Celestial plane. The Inmost, 
being proximate to the Divine Proceeding, as 
has been observed, is formed of substances higher 
than those that enter into the structure of the 
mind. (See Diagram IH, page i8i.) 

The planes of the Spiritual Mind, like those of 
the Natural Mind, are not only composed of 
substances, but also of forms wrought in those 
substances. Life-forces, passing from the interior 
plane of the mind to the outmost, dispose the 
particles, atoms, and fibers so as to be in Corre- 
spondence with the forces that pass through the 
mind. The quality of life-force is dependent not 
only upon what is received from above or within, 
but also upon impressions from external forces, 
which impressions act as vessels for receiving 
the inflowing force. 

The Life Of An Individual Determines The 
Particular Form Or Internal Struct- 
ure Of The Planes Of His 
Being. 

The Inmost in each individual must receive 
alike from the Creator, for the Inmost is superior 
to the plane of the will, and its substance invol- 
untarily takes upon itself the form of activity 
12 177 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



of the Divine Proceeding, and hence of the Creator 
in a subordinate degree. The difference in in- 
dividuals is from the difference in the form or 
interior structure of the planes of the mind, 
which are successive wrappings of the Inmost. 
These differences are caused by variance in 
individual affection and thought. This variance 
has its origin in many causes. Men are born 
designedly with different genius. Hereditary 
inclinations modify, as well as education and 
external surroundings. In general the form of 
the Natural Mind and the exercise of will deter- 
mine how we shall receive influx or life-force 
from the Inmost, and how we shall be impressed 
by the forces that act upon us from without. 
The Natural Mind is an ultimate form, subject 
to the effects of education and natural surround- 
ings, which gives shape to the operations of the 
life-forces within. With these considerations it 
may be said that the form of the mind is wrought 
in its interior structure by the affections and 
thoughts and their quality. The knowledges 
acquired by the senses constitute vessels receptive 
of influx. 

The Lord acts in man from inmosts and from 
ultimates simultaneously to order and to regen- 
erate intermediates; but as man acts in the 
ultimates, the Lord can not act except with man. 

178 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



To become regenerated man must therefore 
keep the laws of God in ultimates as of himself, 
and look to the Lord for power to do so. Hence 
it is that whatever is ''bound" or "loosed on 
earth," the ultimates of the mind, is "bound" 
or ''loosed in heaven," the interiors of the mind. 
"Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven (which is 
to have the planes of the mind coincident with 
the heavens opened) ; but he that doeth the will 
of My Father which is in heaven (which is God 
operating in inmosts)." 

The Universality Of The Unity Of Plan 
Accommodates Man To The Reception 
Of Influx From The Creator 
Through The Coincident 
Planes Of The 
Universe. 

Diagram I is introduced to illustrate the 
universe in its successive degrees and its ascent 
from the inert rock to the Creator. Diagram II 
shows the human constitution and its ascent 
by similar degrees from the dead epidermis to 
the vital substances of the Inmost, and to the 
Creator. The way is now prepared to introduce 
Diagram III, which is so arranged as to bring 
before the eye the similarity in the general 

179 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



structure of the universe and of man, whereby 
there is Correspondence, or influx from the Creator 
through the universe into man. 

A, in this diagram, represents the Creator, 
who is distinctly above all created substance, 
and who fills all below Him by influx. 

Part I represents the atmospheres, B, C, D, 
and E, of the spiritual world, the atmospheres, 
F, G, and H, of the natural world, the Nat- 
ural Body, I, and the earth, J, in successive 
order. 

Part II indicates the higher part of the human 
organization, b, c, d, and e; the Natural Mind, 
f , g, and h ; the Spiritual Body, i, and the spiritual 
earth, j, in successive order. 

J is the Natural Earth. Because it is the con- 
tinuation of the lowest atmosphere, it is placed 
at the bottom. The Spiritual Earth is placed 
opposite because it is its spiritual correlative, 
and is in close Correspondence with it. 

I, the Natural Body, is placed above the 
Natural Earth because it is the earth's substance 
more highly organized. The Spiritual Body, i, 
is placed opposite the Natural Body, I, because 
it is the spiritual correlative and in close Corre- 
spondence with it. The Spiritual Body is placed 
above the Spiritual Earth because it is formed 
from the Spiritual Earth and its atmospheres 

i8o 



Diagram HI Xjj^ 

Creator 
A 



(0 

c 
% 



Divine Be 
Proceeding 

Celestial 
Atmosphere 

Spiritual 
Atmosphere 

Spiritual-^E* 
Natural 
Atmosphere 



Natural i, 
Body 



Naturalj< 
Earth 



PartJ 



<=>\? Inmost 



>C Celestial 




>d Spiritual 

Spiritual 
Natural 

f Ratioaal 
Scientific 
^Sensual 



5^ 

h 

IS 



-J I 



jSpiritual 
Body 



Part 11 



.Spiritual 
Earth 



j8i 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



just as the Natural Body is organized from the 
Natural Earth and its atmospheres. 

h is the Sensual plane of the Natural Mind, and 
is placed coincident with the air, H, with which 
there is the closest relation, as sensation or 
consciousness commences with the inflation of 
the lungs with air, and ceases with the deprivation 
of air. Air also furnishes oxygen to the blood in 
the lungs, and is thence distributed throughout 
the body, and contributes to the formation of the 
mind-organism in the body. 

g is the scientific plane of the Natural Mind, 
and is placed coincident with the ether, G, be- 
cause these two are next in succession. Also 
ether, from which is electricity and animal 
magnetism, contributes a higher degree of sub- 
stance to the formation of the mental organism 
in the body, whereby, as has been observed, 
it is an instrumental medium through which 
the affections, or will, control the body. The 
Scientific plane perceives facts, whereby there 
is mental light; and the ether is the medium 
of natural light. The Sensual plane is subject 
to direction through the knowledge of facts 
embraced by the Scientific; hence it may be 
observed that the Scientific acts upon the Sensual 
as the ether acts upon the air. The ether, being 
used in the construction of the nervous system, 

182 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



ftirnishes the means whereby nervous action, 
so akin to electrical action, produces muscular 
contraction and action, thus giving the mind 
control and direction of the physical senses and 
organs. 

That the ether enters to constitute the invisible 
nervous fluid is not only reasonably concluded 
from the way the body appropriates in general 
the substances of nature for its construction, 
but it is quite clearly demonstrated. Says 
Huxley in commenting upon the experiments 
of M. Dubois Reymond and others, "Every 
amount of nervous action is accompanied by a 
certain amount of electrical disturbance in the 
particles of the nerves in which that nervous 
action is carried on. In this way the nervous 
action is related to electricity in the same way 
that heat is related to electricity; and the same 
sort of argument which demonstrates the two 
latter to be related to one another, shows that 
the nervous forces are correlated to electricity."^ 
Science is continually adding new proofs of 
this. In fact that electricity enters into the 
nervous organization is so well known among 
scientists, that a mere statement of the fact 
might suffice for the purpose here. Spencer 



^Origin of Species, p. i8o 
183 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



says ''The influence conveyed through the nerves 
to the muscles, is, though not positively electric, 
yet a form of force nearly allied to the electric. " ^ 
Though not apparently electric as compared 
to other manifestations of electricity, it is that 
manifestation of electric force that would neces- 
sarily characterize its use in the human mechanism, 
or be displayed in the body on the plane of 
electricity as the effects of willing. 

f is the Rational plane of the Natural Mind, 
coincident with the aura, F, which contributes 
substance for the formation of the Rational, 
and enables the mind to operate in the body 
and on the planes of nature. The purest aura 
furnishes the substance for the first clothing 
of affection and thought in the body. Aura is 
the medium of gravity, which is matter's drawing 
power or affection, and is therefore, when it is 
organized as it is in the body, a suitable sub- 
stance to receive the powers of spiritual affection, 
and to convey them to the lower planes of the body. 

e, d, and c constitute the Spiritual Mind, 
which is within the spiritual body as the natural 
mind is within the natural body, or as the nervous 
fluids are within the nerves. 

e is the Spiritual-Natural plane, placed coin- 



^ First Principles, p. 72 
184 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



cident with the Spiritual-Natural atmosphere, 
E, which contributes substance for its formation. 
Love and wisdom from the Creator act into the 
atmospheres of the spiritual world and into the 
spiritual earth as the heat and light of the sun 
act into the air and the earth, and produce 
Divine order and beauty in the ultimates of the 
spiritual world. This order, harmony, and beauty 
the Spiritual-Natural plane perceives, and is 
thus formed by it. The relation of the Spiritual- 
Natural plane of the mind to the Spiritual-Natural 
Atmosphere is illustrated in general by that of 
the Sensual plane to the air. 

d is the Spiritual plane, next higher, and coinci- 
dent with the Spiritual Atmosphere, D, because 
as ether is the medium of natural light the 
Spiritual Atmosphere is the medium of spiritual 
light, which is Divine truth; and the Spiritual 
plane, which is to be thought of as an organism 
in itself, is that which receives and perceives 
spiritual truth, and is therefore formed by it. 

c is the Celestial plane, coincident with the 
Celestial Atmosphere, C. As aura is the medium 
of gravity the Celestial Atmosphere is the medium 
of spiritual gravity, which is Divine love. The 
Celestial plane is that which primarily sensates 
Divine love "in the highest," and is formed 
from it. 

185 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



b is the Inmost, composed of substances 
responsive to the efflux from the Creator that it 
may receive the activities of human vitality 
from Him. The Inmost is superior to the mind 
that invests it, and that acts as its sensorium. 
Since the Inmost is superior to the Spiritual 
Mind and first receives the Divine Proceeding, 
it is placed coincident with the Divine Proceeding, 
B. Thus creation proceeded from the Creator 
to ultimates that it might return and be conjoined 
to Him. 

The sun, if thought to form a continuous degree 
with the aura, would be represented in Dia- 
gram III by the aura, ether, and air wherein 
are its effects, and from which the earth is made. 
If it is thought that the sun does contain substance 
discretely superior to those of the earth's atmos- 
pheres, then it does not come down to the earth, 
and cannot therefore enter into the material 
body. It is not necessary, therefore, to represent 
the sun in this diagram. 

There Are Two Forms Of Influx, From Within 
And From Without. 

We have in this diagram the means of a clear 
perception of the form of the universe and of 
man, as well as of how they are sustained. The 
Creator is, as it were, the center of the universe, 

i86 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 

in Whom is life itself. The universe is a series 
of incumbent atmospheres or substances succes- 
sively lower until they terminate in the inert 
and implastic rock, which is the basis of creation. 
The diagrams represent creation in successive 
order, one degree being below another. This 
conception aids in thinking how creation comes 
forth. Creation in simultaneous order is repre- 
sented by conceiving each plane in the diagrams 
carried completely around the Creator as a 
center, and all forming not an ascent, but one 
plane. This conception helps in conceiving 
how creation is sustained by interiors and inter- 
mediates being in ultima tes, and acting as one 
with them. Activity passes from the Creator 
through the successive planes of the spiritual 
world to the sun, and thence, through the suc- 
cessive degrees in nature to the rock, which is the 
ultimate plane of reaction. The human form is 
made from the substances of the successive planes 
in the universe, and its planes are respectively 
in Correspondence with the coincident planes 
of the universe. Each plane, both of the universe 
and of the human form, receiving activity from 
the Creator, or from the next higher plane, acts 
as of itself into the next lower. The human form, 
or man, is therefore sustained by two general 
forms of influx: first, from the Creator into 

187 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the Inmost, and thence from the Inmost into the 
Celestial plane, and thence from the Celestial 
into the Spiritual, and likewise to the ultimates 
of the body. Second, activity is communicated 
to the Inmost from the Divine Proceeding, thence 
from the Divine Proceeding to the Celestial 
Atmosphere, and thence to the Celestial plane 
of the mind : and from the Celestial Atmosphere 
to the Spiritual Atmosphere, and thence to the 
Spiritual plane of the mind; and likewise to 
the ultimates of the material earth and of the 
body. 

The Manner In Which Activity Passes From 
The Sun To The Earth Exemplifies In 
Detail The Process By Which 
Vitality Passes From The 
Creator Into The 
Soul. 

Sufficient has now been adduced to draw the 
analogy between the natural and the spiritual 
more in detail. The natural body is under a 
natural sun from which are natural heat, light, 
and force. The soul is likewise under a spiritual 
sun, or the Creator, from which are spiritual 
heat or love and spiritual light or wisdom. Out 
of these unfold all the forces of the spiritual 
world. 

i88 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



The natural sun is invisible to those in the 
spiritual world, for there efflux from the Lord 
appears as a sun. Hence the Word says, ''The 
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten 
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 

In speaking of the Creator as a sun, let us not 
lose sight of the fact that that sun is essentially 
God in His Divine Humanity, and that the ele- 
ments of its efflux are unperverted human quali- 
ties. As the body receives heat and light from 
the sun, so the soul receives love and wisdom 
from the Creator. Affection and thought are 
from the substance and activity of spiritual 
atmospheres, affecting the soul just as heat 
and light are from the substance and the activity 
of nature's atmospheres. This has been demon- 
strated in particulars in the Prologue.^ The 
spiritual atmosphere proximate to the Creator 
is so akin to His own substance that it is actuated 
from the activity in Himself. The activity in 
Him being life itself, the character which it im- 
parts must be that of Himself, which is Divine 
human nature. The atmospheres proximate 
to Him are therefore charged with Divine human 



* Divine Selection, or, The Survival of the Useful, Ch. VI, 
VII, and VIII. 

189 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



nature as the atmospheres about the sun are 
filled, with sun-nature. 

The atmospheres proximate to the Creator 
are adapted to receive activity of so high an 
order as to be called vital and to have as their 
essence human life. Rock is capable only of the 
lowest form of motion. Water has a more com- 
plex activity, as is manifested in waves. The 
air is capable of so high a form of activity that 
it is the chief medium of sound. Ether, a still 
higher form of matter, is capable of so complex a 
form of activity as to be the medium of light, 
and to print upon the retina the perfect forms 
of objects. Aura is capable of a still higher form 
of activity called gravity. It is therefore easily 
conceivable that spiritual substances near the 
Creator should be capable of receiving activity 
like His own vital action, and of becoming charged 
with Divine human nature. These atmospheres, 
potent with Divine vitality, act within the In- 
most, and fill it with Divine human nature. 
The Mind, investing the Inmost, is an organism 
so constructed as to become conscious of the 
essentials of the Divine nature in the Inmost, 
which are love and wisdom, from which are 
affection and thought. The character of con- 
sciousness, or the quality of life sensated, depends 
on the planes of the mind that are opened and 

190 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



infilled by instruction and experience. The 
seat of consciousness is in the Sensual plane of 
the infant, and with development it ascends to 
the Scientific, and then to the Rational. If 
spiritual development then takes place, it ascends 
as the planes of the Spiritual Mind are successively 
opened; but if the planes of the Natural Mind 
are perverted, the seat of consciousness descends 
as the planes are respectively defiled. Since higher 
things or inmosts descend to ultimates, and 
subsist there in simultaneous order as one, 
all delights descend to the sensual plane, and are 
there in their fulness; but as the higher planes 
of the mind are opened, the seat of consciousness 
ascends, ennobling sensations until from merely 
corporeal they become the delights of Divine 
external order, then the delights of love to the 
neighbor, and lastly the delights of supreme 
love to the Lord. 

The influx of vitality descends from the mind 
into the spiritual body, and operates its organs. 
The purest substance in the natural body, which 
is the first material vesture of the mind, receives 
activity from the mind. This nervous fluid acts 
upon the nerves; the nerves act upon the 
muscles, and the muscular system acts upon 
the bones. 



191 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Each Plane Of An Organism And Of The 
Universe, Receiving Influx, Appropriates 
Power From The Influx, And Acts 
As Of Itself. 

Each plane of the human constitution is in 
itself an organism that receives into itself the 
influx of vital action, and appropriates it to its 
own uses, whereby the influx is transformed 
by the particular nature of the receiving organ- 
ism, and is passed on successively by each plane 
as coming from the plane itself. The Mind, 
receiving and transferring the influx according 
to its form, affects accordingly the Natural Body. 
Or, in general, influx proceeds from inmosts 
to ultimates according to the law of Correspond- 
ence. 

The influx from one plane to another is not 
like water flowing over a succession of terraces, 
nor like wheat falling through a series of sieves 
in a fanning-mill ; but each plane receives ac- 
cording to its form and genius, and passes on 
the influx as from itself, transformed and accom- 
modated. The lowest plane, being fixed, can not 
pass the influx on, but its office is reactive, where- 
by inflowing powers are conserved, and caused 
to yield their powers in ultimates, and thereby 
in higher planes. Influx having descended to 

192 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



the ultimate, it can not ascend as influx, but 
must ascend as reacting effects. This is illus- 
trated by the sun's influx into nature. Nature 
has no influx into the sun, but the sun's influx 
ascends as the reactive effects of heat, light, 
electric action, and gravity. A still better illus- 
tration is the reactive effect of affection and 
thought in acts. The passion of music is increased 
from the reactive effect of singing or of executing. 
Eloquence is stimulated by the reactive effect 
of speaking. Zeal is augmented by the reactive 
effect of doing: that is, affection and thought 
flow down to the act, and then ascend as effects. 
How each plane receives according to its form 
from one stream of influx may be illustrated by 
the reception of a common current of electricity 
by three mechanisms, one manifesting the influx 
as heat, another as light, and another as power. 
How each plane acts from itself according to its 
form is illustrated by the sun's activity being 
communicated to the aura, the ether, and the 
air, which receive the energy, and reproduce it 
according to the respective nature and genius 
of aura, of ether, and of air. In this way the 
whole human organism, both spiritual and natural, 
is vitalized and operated by the influx of life 
from the Divine Himian of the Creator, each 
thing receiving life or power from the one source, 
13 193 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



and appropriating what is received according 
to the function and form of the receiving organ- 
ism. The natural sun is simply an external 
agency whereby matter is raised to the degree 
of pliability and sensitiveness that makes it 
responsive to spiritual life-forces; thus the soul 
is enabled to form and to use the body. The sun 
renders matter in general plastic to spiritual 
forces whereby mineral, animal, and plant forms 
are made. There is no conversion of the substance 
of one discrete degree into that of another 
accompanying influx. The substances remain of 
the same discrete degree, but energy is trans- 
ferred, which is made possible by the successive 
degrees being so slightly differentiated that 
adjacent ones are reciprocally communicative. 

The particular adaptability for the transference 
of activity from one degree to another is due 
to the manner in which creation took place. 
The Creator, through His creative powers, emitted 
from His Divine Organism of uncreated sub- 
stance that which forms the purest atmosphere 
that girds Him. This, by the act of creation, 
has life or activity in a degree less than has His 
own substance, for it is the first created substance. 
By gathering together and arranging the parti- 
cles of this, by compressing them, and by with- 
drawing activity one degree more, a next lower 

194 



THE HUMAN STRUCTURE 



was formed ; and in a like manner creation 
continued on and down until the rock was formed 
in which activity is withdrawn in the last degree. 
In this process of the devitalization of substance 
put forth from the Creator, endeavor was with- 
drawn until there resulted inertia; activity 
diminished until there was passivity ; heat dimin- 
ished until there was cold; and life decreased 
until creation terminated in dead matter, an 
ultimate basis in which living forces may act 
and form. The discrete degrees of the uni- 
versal order are therefore fixed beyond the 
power of nature or of man to change, disturb, 
or disorder, being established by a creative act 
that could originate in the Creator alone. Crea- 
tion descended by discrete degrees of substance 
that it might ascend by discrete degrees of 
forms, as exemplified by minerals, plants, animals, 
and man. Influx now descends also from the 
Creator through these forms from the highest 
to the lowest, whereby there is Correspondence. 



195 



CHAPTER X. 
SENSATION. 



Sensation Is A Faculty Of The Soul, And Is 
Produced By Influx Through The Soul 
Into The Favorably Disposed 
Form Of The External 
Organism. 

The foregoing principles are indispensable as 
a preparation for the discussion of the subject 
of sensation, because the constitution of the 
sentient being and of the universe is involved in 
the exercise of this function. One form of sensa- 
tion explains all, for the same philosophy is em- 
ployed in the understanding and explanation of 
each sense-organ. 

Consider the sense of touch. The finger being 
placed upon sandpaper, the sensation of rough- 
ness is produced. The paper disposes the nerves 
of the finger in a certain form. The inflowing 
life-force is thereby affected in the ultimate, the 
finger, and then changes on interior planes to 
correspond with the form of activity in the ulti- 
mate, which produces a corresponding impression 

196 



SENSATION 



upon the nerves of the spiritual finger to which 
the nerves of the material finger ascend. This 
change is experienced as sensation. In this 
process the impression is conveyed to the brain 
and simultaneously to the mind by their acting 
as one. The sensation of touch is therefore pro- 
duced by the disposition of the material sense- 
organ, and by the correspondingly affected life- 
force. The induced form of the material organism 
is the external cause of sensation, and the inflow- 
ing life-force as thereby affected is the internal 
cause. 

The vibrating bell communicates its motion 
to the air, and the air affects the ear. By the 
ear is not meant simply the external ear and 
drum, but the ear's entire physical organism in 
all its planes. The air produces a synchronous 
vibration in the material ear, which clothes the 
spiritual ear, a perfect spiritual counterpart to 
the material ear, and so delicately adjoined to 
the material covering that it is affected by its 
vibration through the inflowing life-force taking 
on a form of action in Correspondence with the 
form of activity in the ultimate. Thereby the 
inflowing life-force is correspondingly affected, 
which effect is perceived as sound. The dis- 
position of the material ear made by the vibrating 
bell and the atmosphere is the external cause of 

197 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



sound, and the correspondingly affected inflow- 
ing life-force is the internal cause. The sensation 
of sound is in the ear of the spirit and according to 
the form in which the spiritual ear is disposed by 
the inflowing life-force in passing down to meet 
the form of activity in the material ear, which is 
determined by the nature of the aerial vibration, 
the ultimate. 

Taste is from certain forms of matter touch- 
ing organs in the mouth. The sense of smell is 
from floating particles touching the olfactory 
nerves. The eft^ects of such contacts are per- 
ceived in like manner by the correspondmg 
organs of the soul as the inflowing life-force is 
modified in the use of the external organs of 
touch and taste. 

Sight is from ether acting upon the sensitive 
fluids of the retina, with which the nerves of 
the spiritual eye are, through the mind-organism, 
in Correspondence. The natural eye being 
affected, the inflowing life-force is correspondingly 
modified, which produces sight. 

The Seat Of Sensation Is In The Soul. 

All sensation is of the soul ; the external means 
may originate in nature. In general, the things 
of the natural world dispose the organs of the 
material body into a certain form. The analogous 

198 



SENSATION 

organs of the spiritual body are similarly im- 
pressed, through their close affinity, by the inflow- 
ing life-force coming into Correspondence with 
the ultimate. Thus originate all sensations. The 
inflowing life-force is from the activity of the 
spiritual substances which are coincident with 
or in Correspondence with the spiritual sense- 
organs. The natural body is an outer covering to 
the spiritual body, which it serves as an instru- 
ment of action in the natural world. The organs 
of the senses set in the natural body are sub- 
sidiary to the analogous ones in the spiritual 
body, and are organisms whereby, through the 
successive, ascending planes of their structure, 
activities in nature are perceived by the mind, 
which is organized on the planes of the spiritual 
world. Thus man as a spiritual being is enabled, 
while clothed with the natural body, to sensate 
activities in the natural world. The material 
eye has no more capacity to see than has the 
eyeglass of the jeweller; nor the ear to hear than 
the ear-trumpet of the deaf. The senses of the 
body are simply vehicles by which the spirit 
descends to and cognizes the material creation. 
Or, reversely, the senses of the body are mechan- 
isms by which nature's activities are carried up 
to meet the activities of the spiritual world as 
they exist in the spiritual senses. The soul with 

199 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



its organs of sense is, on spiritual planes, a parallel 
of the material body with its organs of sense. 
The soul with its organs of sense as interiors is 
within the body with its organs of sense as ulti- 
mates; and all of the interior discrete degrees 
of the soul are in simultaneous order in the ulti- 
mates of the body, and act as one with them. 
And since power acts from ultima tes to interiors, 
the interiors immediately become such as is the 
form of activity in the ultimate. Hence all sen- 
sation is in the soul, and is possible only to the 
spiritual senses. 

The body being the material organism that 
forms for the spirit an avenue to nature's activ- 
ities, upon the separation of the spirit from the 
body, which event is called death, the material 
world can no longer be sensated by the spirit; 
though the spirit, because of its complete organi- 
zation, continues a sentient being, with the use 
of all the senses, in the spiritual world. As 
the senses of the body are those of the soul 
brought down to the plane of passive matter, 
by which they are limited, bounded, and termi- 
nated, in the soul they are as much more acute 
and superior as spiritual substance is more active 
than matter. 



200 



CHAPTER XL 

NATURAL FORCES. 

The Character Of Natural Forces Is Unknown, 
And Substances Are Confounded With 
Their Properties Because There 
Is No Knowledge Of 
Discrete Degrees. 

The failure to discern the degrees of matter, and 
the consequent confounding of matter with its 
modes of motion, have prevented materialistic 
scientists from distinguishing and clearly defining 
natural forces. With the more recent develop- 
ment of materialistic reasonings, there has grown 
up a more strenuous denial of the existence of 
higher and lower forms of matter, and as a conse- 
quence there is an increased endeavor to explain 
all forces as the inherent properties of the one 
grossest form of matter. If the forces are of so 
high a character that the assignment of them to 
some form of ponderable matter is too absurdly 
preposterous, then they are relegated to the 
realm of the unknown or of the unknowable. 
Hence as materialistic science has become devel- 



201 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



oped, it has shut the door that enters where the 
knowledge of causes resides, and has locked itself 
out in the outer court of visible effects. Having 
turned away from the realm of causes, it has 
become bewildered and lost in its search for 
causes where they are not. 

The condition of the materialistic school of 
scientists and philosophers may be thus illus- 
trated. If there is reluctance to concede, let it 
for a moment be assumed that nature is a series 
of effects deriving all its forces from a superior 
world wherein are the causes: then suppose the 
existence of the world of causes to be denied 
or regarded unknowable because imponderable; 
would not the present materialistic philosophy 
with its theory of Evolution, ''innate aptitude," 
"fortuitous concourse of atoms," ''survival of 
the fittest," "natural selection," "projected effi- 
ciency," and the like, be the inevitable result? 
But this is not an assumption. It is the true 
-reason why there has been so deplorable a failure 
to offer an intelligible or definite explanation of 
nature's forces. On the other hand the discern- 
ment of discrete degrees provides a satisfactory 
philosophy. 

It has been observed that creation descended 
and terminated in passive matter, to which 
creative forces descend, and where they com- 

202 



NATURAL FORCES 



mence to form things successively higher. The 
descending forces are not visible, while the ascend- 
ing scale of created forms is seen by the material 
eye. Evolution follows creative forces down to 
ultimates, and there stops with the limitation of 
material sight. Thus originated Evolution, and 
other forms of materialism. 

Heat Is A Form Of Activity. 

Though it is not the purpose in this treatise 
to pursue principles in their application to the 
particulars of science, we may here consider a 
few illustrations that will aid in presenting the 
general laws. 

It is now to be observed in particular what the 
common manifestations of natural forces are. 
Let us first consider what heat is; such heat as 
is produced by burning coal. A clear conception 
of this necessitates the reflection that coal is 
formed by the condensation of gaseous matter. 
The particles of gases and vapors are brought 
together through the agency of vegetation and 
various forces, and are reduced to a solid form. 
By the process of combustion the constituent 
particles are disengaged, whereupon they take the 
form of activity that is natural to the gases and 
vapors when in a high state of freedom. The 
activity continues until overcome by the resist- 

203 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



ance of less active matter. Such heat is there- 
fore the natural activity of the loosened particles 
of condensed gas and vapor. The red glow 
of the coal is from the beginning of that 
activity. The flame is the partly decomposed 
matter wherein the particles are in a high state 
of disengagement, but not wholly freed. The 
radiated heat is the loosened particles having 
assumed their natural activity, or their activity 
communicated to proximate substances. The 
heat is not a novel substance let loose from the 
coal, nor is it a force acting apart from substance ; 
but it is simply the natural activity of the loosened 
particles of the component gases and vapors, or 
the transfer of that activity to the molecules of 
the atmosphere. 

Iron is white hot from the extended swing of 
its component particles, which occurs as the 
attraction between its atoms is overcome. When 
heated until it becomes a fluid, the tendency of 
the atoms to assume their natural activity is 
equalized by atomicity. Under a still increased 
heat the tendency of the atoms to assume their 
natural activity exceeds atomicity, and they 
pass of! in a gaseous form. 

Heat derived by chemical combinations is 
explainable according to the same principle. 
One substance so acts upon another as to over- 

204 



NATURAL FORCES 



come partially or entirely the atomicity, where- 
upon the particles assume their more primary 
form of activity, great at first, but gradually 
equalizing with associated matter. 

Heat derived from the sun is not an exception. 
The sun's flame is composed of particles of matter 
in a high state of vibration or gyration. The 
activity is communicated to the incumbent aura 
and ether, which transfer the activity to the 
planets about the sun. The vibrating particles 
of ether affect the particles of air and of earth, 
and give them a degree of motion, whence is their 
heat. In no case is heat other than a form of the 
activity of a substance. 

The Origin Of Heat Is The Activity Of An 
Atmosphere Interior To The Grosser 
Forms Of Matter. 

Having stated that heat is produced by the 
particles of matter assuming the activity that 
is natural to them, it now remains to account 
for the force that produces that activity; for, 
though the activity is natural to matter under 
certain conditions, the force that produces it 
is not, and can not be evolved from matter 
alone. 

It may be said, as in the case of burning coal, 
that the heat produced during combustion is in 

205 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

proportion to that employed in the original 
condensation of the gases into the form of coal. 
Though this is undoubtedly a true statement of a 
law, it falls short as an explanation of what heat 
or its origin is, for it offers no explanation of 
either. To say that heat is a force latent or 
stored in the coal, if permissible in loose descrip- 
tion, will not pass as an explanation of what it is, 
for since heat is a form of activity, if latent, it 
would not exist; and to say that it is stored is 
conspicuously not true, for the storage of activity 
would be its suspension. The particles of the 
coal, or of matter in general, though their atomic- 
ity is overcome, have no power of themselves to 
spring into rapid vibration. Their activity is 
due to that of proximate substances or of atmos- 
pheres more interior than the gases of which coal 
and grosser matter in general are composed. The 
activity of the more interior atmospheres, which 
is constant, is communicated to grosser matter 
when the requisite conditions are furnished. The 
atoms of matter, being freed, respond to the 
pressure of forces belonging to superior substances, 
which in turn derive their activity from the still 
higher substances of the sun, and lastly through 
the spiritual world from the Creator. The sub- 
stances of the spiritual world are perpetually 
energized and actuated by the Creator. Heat, 

206 



NATURAL FORCES 



like all forces, has therefore its first origin in the 
Creator, the primal fountain of every activity. 

The Sun's Heat Is Due To Influx From The 
Spiritual World. 

The origin of the sun's heat is explained in the 
same way. The sun, composed of ethereal matter 
in a most pure and free state gathered about a 
center, because of its extreme purity and sensi- 
tiveness, is focal to the general influx into the 
spiritual world from the Creator. The activity 
that constitutes the Creator's life is communi- 
cated to the atmospheres of the spiritual world, to 
which the rarefied substance of the sun is sensitive 
and responsive. The influx from the Creator 
through the atmospheres of the spiritual world 
into the sun causes the particles of the sun's 
atmosphere to assume most complex and powerful 
activity or gyrations. From the sun's proximate 
atmosphere the aura and ether receive their 
forces and are actuated, which in turn act upon 
the earth and give to grosser forms of matter 
their natural activities and forces. Since the 
Creator formed the earth by means of the sun, 
putting forth from it successively lower atmos- 
pheres until they terminated in the dead matter 
of the terreous globe, the creative energy per- 
petually flows down the successive degrees, 

207 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



terminating in the earth as the ultimate, and 
thereby perpetually causing things to subsist 
and to exist. When the equilibrium in matter 
is disturbed, or when conditions are made favor- 
able, that creative energy manifests itself in the 
endeavor to restore equilibrium, as in generated 
electricity. 

In maintaining that the activity of the sun's 
particles, whence is its heat, is derived from the 
Creator through the spiritual world, it is immate- 
rial whether or not there is combustion, or com- 
position and decomposition, in the substances 
of the sun. Influx from the spiritual world into 
the sun, though accompanied by a species of 
chemical change, is still the primary cause of the 
sun's heat. The secondary cause is the species 
of chemical changes in the substances of the sun 
produced by that influx. Activity and sub- 
sidence, or chemical changes of a certain kind, 
do go on in the sun without the destruction of its 
substances, the same as in nature. The chemical 
changes that occur in the sun to produce its heat, 
light, and power no more diminish its capacity 
to undergo endless changes than the perpetual 
decay and reproduction of vegetable and animal 
forms in the earth decrease its ability to vegetate 
and to provide for new animal formations. In 
fact the reverse is true in the earth, for the greater 

208 



NATURAL FORCES 



the amount of decaying matter, the better is nature 
provided to reproduce. Life-force flows into the 
earth, creating and recreating from the materials 
already there provided to serve for all time. Like- 
wise influx from the Creator through the spiritual 
world perpetually produces and reproduces heat, 
light, and power in the sun from materials there 
provided. Consequently, since there is no con- 
sumption or destruction of the sun's substances 
nor diminution of its capacity to undergo any 
chemical changes essential to the production of 
its phenomena, and since the activity of the sun's 
particles is sustained by influx from the Creator, 
Who as we have seen is eternal, the sun undergoes 
no loss, and can never fail in its supply of heat, 
light, and power. In the knowledge that the 
universe will never fall into chaos from the sun's 
expiration, or from the want of direction by 
intelligence and power, we are saved alike from 
the dogma of fanatical religion that the earth 
will "burn up," and from the superstitions of 
materialistic philosophers that the sun will ''burn 
out." It may seem strange at first thought, and 
yet it is what maturer reflection would observe 
must needs be, that a morbid religion and a god- 
less philosophy, howsoever much they may differ 
in the particulars of their reasonings, arrive at 
last at the same conclusion in ending the uni- 
14 209 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



verse with " omnipresent death, " ^ and in the sum 
and substance of all their reasonings about nature 
are therefore in perfect harmony and accord. 

Light. 

Light, considered solely on the natural plane, 
may be defined as that energy or activity in 
nature which, acting upon the organs of sight, 
renders objects visible. Apart from the mind, 
light is the activity of the ether, the universal 
medium of light, caused by the sun, or other 
matter, being in such a state as to actuate the 
ether. It is obvious that the term must be used 
in this sense generally. Yet in relation to sight, 
light is something vastly more. Light in its 
mental aspect, or as a form of sensation, is due to 
the influx of mental light into the organs of vision 
when they are suitably affected by the activity 
of ether. This is considered more fully under the 
next topic. 

Sight Is From Mental Light Inflowing And 
Meeting The Impressions Made Upon 
The Eye By The Activity Of Ether. 

Sight is the perception of forms by means of 
light. Objects are seen by means of reflected 



^Spencer, First Principles, 494-495. 
210 



NATURAL FORCES 



rays of light, which have undergone modifica- 
tions made by the reflecting body, whereby an 
image is impressed upon the retina. Mental 
light flows down into the organism of the spirit- 
ual eye, and meets the activity of ether which 
ascends by means of the natural eye. Thus the 
spirit is enabled to see on the plane of nature 
through the natural eye. Mental light, or spiritual 
light, is the light in which the mind sees. It is 
the light of the understanding. All natural 
sight is from the understanding. The eye can not 
see of itself ; nor can the ear hear, the hand feel, the 
nose smell, or the tongue taste of themselves. 
It is the interior life of man, the life of the spirit, 
which is the life of the will and understanding, 
or of the affections and thoughts, that has sensa- 
tion of the things in nature through the organs 
of the body. The body is simply an instrument 
by means of which the spirit reaches down into 
nature to perceive her forms and qualities. There- 
fore when the spirit is withdrawn from the body, 
the body has no sensation ; yet the spirit continues 
in the exercise of all its faculties and senses on 
the plane of its own organization. 

That sight is from the mind's light flowing 
down into forms impressed upon the natural eye 
is illustrated by objects appearing to one in a 
dark room and with eyes closed, after the light 

211 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



is extinguished; as when one sees the disk of a 
lamp-burner or the carbon of an electric light 
after the light is extinguished. 

It is to be noticed that life always descends, 
and that things of consciousness have their origin 
in something higher. In seeking the first cause 
of seeing, we are led to this beautiful truth and 
wonderful provision of the Infinite Wisdom in the 
creation of man; namely, that, in fact, it is the 
Lord who sees, because it is He alone who lives, 
and that He has so created things that He can give 
man to see, and that it should appear to him as 
if he saw from himself. 

The appearance is that the corporeal senses 
flow into the mind, and excite ideas there; for 
it seems that objects move the external senses 
first, and then the internal senses. But in every 
case this is a fallacy, for externals, which are 
gross, can not flow into internals, which are 
purer and spiritual. The senses of the spirit dis- 
pose the corporeal senses to receive impressions 
according to their quality, and so perceive through 
them. Such is the relation between the senses of 
the spirit and those of the body that the senses 
of the spirit instantaneously adapt those of the 
body to receive impressions, and to act as one 
with them. All sensations that come by means 
of the sensory organism flow in from things inter- 



212 



NATURAL FORCES 



nal. The internal sensations are proper to the 
will and the understanding, which do not have 
that sense characteristic of the corporeal senses, 
but the sensations of the will and the understand- 
ing are turned into such when they flow into the 
corporeal organism. 

Vision being primarily from mental light, an 
image upon the retina of one in a listless state 
may not be seen. That there be distinct vision 
there must be the direction of that light, by 
means of which the mind sees, into the material 
eye, for the natural eye has no power of itself to 
see. It is the eye of the mind that sees through 
the material eye, and thus discerns objects in 
nature. 

The power of sight chiefly depends upon two 
things, the strength, clearness, and perfection of 
the lens of the natural eye, and the force and 
direction of mental light. The intelligence of 
vision, other things being equal, is in proportion 
to the quality of intellectual light. Hence with 
the lower animals there may be superior visual 
pov/er, but in their sight there is nothing of cause 
and effect or of reverence, and consequently less 
discernment; while with man these enter into 
sight and ennoble it in proportion to man's intelli- 
gence. This is why the sight of the artist is supe- 
rior to that of the untrained, and why the spiritual 

213 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



man looking out upon nature does not see it as 
a profound mystery, for to him "The heavens 
declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
showeth His handiwork." 

Radiation. 

Radiation of heat or of light is the communi- 
cation of activity from the substances of which 
heat or light is predicated to other substances. 

Conductors And Non-conductors. 

Bodies are conductors or non-conductors accord- 
ing to their ability to take up and to transmit 
modes of motion; and transparent or opaque 
respectively as they transmit or are impervious 
to the ethereal motion from which is light. 

Color. 

Color is due to the modifications of the influent 
rays of light, which is according to the contexture 
of the reflecting object, the reflected rays being 
thereby modified, and producing variation in color 
according to the laws of light and sight. 

Space And Time Are Attributes Of Matter, 
But They Are Not Matter Itself. 

It is necessary to introduce here only a brief and 
general idea of space, and conseqtiently of time. 

214 



NATURAL FORCES 



Space has its origin in the fixity of substance, 
and, with time, belongs wholly to the material 
worid. Neither space nor time is proper to the 
mind, nor to the spiritual wwld; for affection 
and thought, which are of the mind, are entirely 
above the limitations of either. Space and time 
came into existence with the creation of the 
natural world, yet they are not imponderable 
matter, as Hegel suggests. The particles of 
spiritual substances being condensed and becom- 
ing fixed, whereby matter is created, introduces 
space, and the duration of matter introduces 
time. Space is neither a form of activity nor 
a substance, but simply an attribute of ex- 
tension proper to a world of fixed and inert 
matter. 

That space and time are not proper to the mind, 
nor to the spiritual world, may be observed from 
the reflection that they are not attributes of 
thought and affection. Neither space nor time 
is a measure of affection or thought. Affection 
and thought act alike through short and long 
spaces. In the mind, or in the spiritual world as 
distinguished from the natural world, state takes 
the place of time, and differences of state exist in 
the place of spaces. To illustrate; the natural 
life of a man may be said to be threescore years 
and ten. This is a measurement made in the 



215 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



terms of nature apart from the states of the mind. 
From a mental or spiritual standpoint the life of 
a man is infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, and 
maturity, or a succession of states. Though a 
man's life, from the natural standpoint, may be 
considered to be composed of a number of years, 
in reality it is a long series of successive states. 
The time of life is the state, and the time gone 
through is the difference of state that exists 
between infancy and maturity. While one is 
passing through the succession of states from 
infancy to maturity a fixed rising and setting sun 
and a fixed earth, making the circuit of the eclip- 
tic, mark off his life into divisions of days, months, 
and years, and so clothe the state and its succes- 
sion of qualities with time. Therefore the mind 
and the world to which the mind properly belongs 
are above space and time, they not being attributes 
of it, but solely proper to the material world of 
fixed matter. So space and time clothe the mind 
and the spiritual world as an external garment, 
and are distinctly beneath them as attributes of 
matter. 

Consequently in the spiritual world where there 
"shall be no night," when ''the sun shall no more 
go down," and "there shall be time no longer," 
states and changes or differences of state take the 
place respectively of time and space. 

216 



NATURAL FORCES 



Motion. 

Motion is the relative change of place among 
bodies or particles. 

FORCE. 

Force Is Never A Substance, But It Is The 
Effect Of The Motion Of A Substance. 

Force is never a substance, but the measure 
of motion, or of the endeavor of substance to 
assume motion or a certain condition. The dif- 
ficulty encountered by materialistic scientists in 
clearly distinguishing between matter, force, and 
motion, is readily accounted for. Having per- 
ceived that certain forces are of too high and 
complex a character to be attributes of the 
grosser forms of matter, they could not attach 
them thereto; having denied the existence of the 
higher degrees of material substance, they are 
precluded assigning them there; and perceiving 
that there can not be activity apart from sub- 
stance, they could not explain them as modes of 
motion, consequently they have covered their 
errors in the only manner left to them, namely, 
by ascribing the majority of forces to the sep- 
ulchre of the unknown, as in such cases they are 
wont. 

Force, which in every instance is substance in 
217 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

motion, or the effect of the activity of substance, 
has its primary origin in the vital action of the 
Divine Organism of the Creator. He is omnipo- 
tent, not that He can transgress His own laws 
or act against His own nature, but because all 
power in its beginning resides in Him, and there 
has its origin. The activity that is in Him is of 
so complex and high a character that every kind 
of force, natural or spiritual, unfolds out of it. 
Force in the Creator is infinite Love. 

Natural Forces Are Derived From The Creator 
By The Transformation Of Divine Force 
In Passing Through Successive Discrete 
Degrees Of Substance. 

Forces in nature are derived from Love in the 
Creator according to the same principles that 
forces in the natural body come from the mind 
or will. In the Creator force is essentially human, 
for there it is Divine Human Love. The activity 
of His Love is communicated to the spiritual 
atmospheres and to the spiritual world in general, 
where it, through the organism of the spiritual 
world, becomes spiritual force; thence it is com- 
municated to the natural world, where through 
the organism of the natural world it becomes 
natural force. 

Let us illustrate how the forces of Love in the 
218 



NATURAL FORCES 

Creator are converted into natural forces. Sup- 
pose the case of one desiring to be at a certain 
place. His affections form the will to go. He 
loves; that is he desires to effect a bargain, to 
view a landscape, or to see a friend. Suppose 
he chooses to go by boat and oar. His desire to 
be at a certain place leads him to go. Desire 
propels the oar. Desire or love in the soul acts 
within the mind. The activity descends, and 
operates upon the fluids within the brain and 
nerves of the body. The nerves act upon the 
muscles, and the muscles act upon the bones; 
thus the arms move the oars. The origin of the 
oar's movements is in desire or love. The force 
of desire is converted into nervous force, then into 
the force of the muscles, and thence is communi- 
cated to the oars. The origin of the force in the 
mind is the force of Divine Love in the Creator. 
Divine Love, in which are all forces, actuates the 
spiritual atmospheres wherefrom there is commu- 
nication of its activity and forces to the interior 
substances of the mind. These forces come out 
and shape themselves in the mind as the forces of 
love or desire, which become physical forces in 
the organism of the nerves and of the muscles. 
Looking where the oar is just lifted from the 
water, an eddy appears. The force of the oar 
has formed a whirlpool. Through the organism 

219 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

of the mind, the body, and the instrumentahty 
of the oar, Love-Force in the Creator became 
love-force or desire-force in the will, thought- 
force in the understanding, nervous force in the 
nerves, muscular force in the body, and lastly 
the force of whirling water. Since, as has been 
observed, the spiritual world is an organism com- 
posed of successive planes of discrete degrees 
like the mind, and nature is an organism com- 
posed of successive planes of discrete degrees 
like the body, the origin of all natural forces may 
be seen to be the force of the Divine Love of the 
Creator, for the force of His Love is communi- 
cated from Him to the spiritual world as it is 
communicated from Him to the human mind; 
and force passes from the spiritual world to the 
natural world, as it does from the mind to the 
body. The spiritual world is the soul of nature 
just as the spirit is the soul of the body, and it 
receives its forces from the Creator and com- 
municates them to the natural world on the 
same principle that the mind receives its forces 
from the Creator and communicates them to the 
body. The relation of the spiritual sun, which 
in essence is the Creator, to the spiritual world is 
illustrated by the relation of the sun in nature 
to the natural world. And just as the body 
derives its forces and form from the soul, so the 

220 



NATURAL FORCES 



natural world derives its forces and form from the 
spiritual world. 

The forces of Divine Love or of human desire 
are not brought down and out in material forms 
by the change of one substance into another, but 
through the transmission of activity or endeavor 
from one degree to another, to effect which the 
spiritual and the natural creations are suitably 
organized. Since the organism of the soul and 
the body is an image of the greater organism of 
the spiritual and natural worlds, and since they 
receive and transmit forces alike, the origin of all 
of nature's forces is fully illustrated by the origin 
of force in the body. 

As creation took place there was a continual 
decrease in the activity and the expansion of 
substances until there resulted the ultimate, dead, 
and passive matter of the earth; and since the 
ultimate now reaches up to the Creator by suc- 
cessive discrete degrees, the activity of the Creator 
is carried down until it terminates in grossest 
matter, that internal things may subsist and be 
contained. This activity gives each successive 
plane its own endeavor to realize its use. In the 
mind that endeavor produces affection, thought, 
and all mental functions ; in the soul it forms the 
spiritual body and its organs, each with its en- 
deavor to accomplish its use; in plants it pro- 



221 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



duces fruits and seeds; it forms the material 
bodies of animals, and operates their organs; in 
the earth it forms minerals; it gives every atom 
its properties, and imparts to matter an effort 
to vegetate. The florescence on windows and 
arborescence in dendrite are from that effort. 
This effort, which is from the Divine in ultimates, 
acts in seeds and in the roots of plants, whence 
they grow. 

With this general description of the origin of 
natural forces, we may pass to the discussion of 
some of their forms in particular, which will also 
illustrate the general law. 

Gravity Is The Activity Of The Aura. 

Gravity is the force exerted by the activity of 
that interior atmosphere of the earth, which has 
been named aura. The offices performed by the 
sun necessitate that there be within and about it 
a purer atmosphere of higher character than the 
atmospheres that come down to the earth. The 
astronomer sees tongues of flame shooting out 
from the sun. These do not come down to nature ; 
but they impart their activity to atmospheres that 
reach to the earth, and then subside. The intense 
agitation of the sun's immediate atmosphere is 
due to the sun being constituted of so rarefied 
and pure matter that it is nature's first clothing 



222 



NATURAL FORCES 



of the sun of the spiritual worid. In the sun 
originates, through influx from the spiritual 
world, that activity which is communicated 
throughout the aura, a universally diffused sub- 
stance, and manifested as the force of gravity 
according to the laws heretofore set forth. The 
drawing force of Divine Love, having passed 
through the successive degrees of the spiritual 
world, becomes in the sun and the aura the draw- 
ing force of gravity, the activity being of such a 
form and character as to move all objects toward 
a common center. 

Attraction. 

The force of attraction is derived from that of 
gravity. It is gravity's force received from the 
aura by particles or bodies of grosser matter, and 
is sent out again modified by the character of the 
receiving form. It has the general nature of 
gravity — that of drawing together. As it is the 
nature of the Divine Love of the Creator to draw 
all things to Him, and gravity, the derived force 
of Divine Love, draws things together, so the 
smallest particles of grosser matter, acting as 
from themselves, likewise draw together. Thence 
originates attraction. Matter, differing in kind, 
composition, and atomic structure variously 
receives the force of attraction, and manifests 

223 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the acquired force according to the receiving 
form. 

Chemical Affinity. 

Chemical affinity, the tendency which atoms 
have in particular instances to unite in one body, 
is not a new force, but is the effect of the natural 
working of the forces of attraction. The force 
of attraction varying in different substances, 
when different kinds of matter are brought 
together and under favorable circumstances, the 
constant pull of the varying attractions causes 
a tendency to equalization and a consequent 
commingling of atoms, resulting in a new com- 
pound. This tendency, which is but a form of 
attraction, is called chemical affinity. The heat 
given off accompanying the formation of a new 
compound is due to the increased activity of the 
component atoms produced by the action of the 
forces of the different substances, and the con- 
sequent increased influx of activity from the 
interior ether and aura into the new and more 
sensitive conditions. Where heat, electricity, 
or other agencies are necessary to produce the 
conditions for the operation of chemical affinity, 
it is due to the necessity of freeing the atoms from 
consolidated conditions that they may respond 
to the forces of attraction. 

224 



NATURAL FORCES 



Atomicity. 

Atomicity, considered as the property possessed a 
by a substance for combining with another in 
definite proportion, or as the number of bonds 
possessed by a substance for combining with an- 
other in definite proportion, or as the number of 
bonds possessed by a substance, is attraction or 
chemical affinity operating in particular in the 
atom. Atomicity is but the way that chemical 
affinity acts in the atom. As the substance and 
form of the atom, as well as the force of atomicity 
which it exerts, must be affected to a greater or 
less extent by many forces in nature, as those of 
electricity, magnetism, the atomicity of other 
substances, and the like, the force of atomicity 
variously appears; although attraction, from 
which it is derived, is relatively uniform. It is 
possible for atomicity to be such because the 
aura or gravity imbues the atom of matter grosser 
than itself with force so that the atom acts as of 
itself on its own plane, and variously manifests 
the appropriated powers. 

Capillarity. 

Capillarity, that force by which fluids are 
elevated or depressed upon the immersion of a 
solid, is not a distinct force, but ordinary attrac- 
15 225 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

tion operative under certain conditions. It is due 
to the fact that the molecules of the fluid lie 
loosely and are in a state to respond to a slight 
force. The fluid ascends the sides of an immersed 
solid because the attraction between the particles 
of the solid and of the fluid is stronger than the 
attraction between the particles of water for 
themselves. Mercury is depressed because the 
attraction between the particles of the mercury 
is stronger than the attraction between the 
mercury and the immersed solid. 

Cohesion. 

Cohesion is the attraction between the mole- 
cules which form the mass. Its great strength, as 
in brass and other solidified bodies, is due to the 
ability of the component particles to receive and 
to appropriate the power of attraction, and to the 
form of the constituent parts whereby they inter- 
lace and lock. 

Adhesion. 

Adhesion is chiefly distinguished from cohesion 
by its taking place between surfaces brought into 
contact. 

Osmosis. 

Osmosis, the passing of liquids through a porous 
partition and their diffusion, is duo to th^ capillary 

3a6 



NATURAL FORCES 



attraction in the pores of the partition, and to 
the attraction which exists between the particles 
of the fluids. The force of attraction, varying 
with different fluids, seeks equilibrium, and attains 
it by diffusion. 

The fact that attraction, chemical affinity, 
atomicity, capillarity, cohesion, and osmosis are 
but the derived and modified forces of gravity 
suggests the unity of all forces. The undefined 
perception of the close relation of all forces has 
led to the frequent assertion of their unity. This 
class of forces, being derived from gravity, has its 
unity in gravity. 

Electricity Is An Activity Of The Ether. 

There is yet a class of forces, comprehending 
electricity and its derivative activities, that has 
not been considered. Those of the ultra-mater- 
ialistic school, in their attempt to explain what 
electricity is, regard it as a ''condition" of the 
grosser forms of matter. The electrification of the 
amber or the glass tube obtained by friction, so far 
as any explanation is offered, is said to be due to 
the condition of the amber or of the glass. The 
assumption that electricity is only a condition of 
gross matter not only fails to account for and to 
explain its phenomena, but it is so foreign to 
reason that no definite conception of the subject 

227 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

can be formed from such a standpoint. The 
assimiption is so intangible to thought that no 
language is adequate for its expression, hence 
there is a resort to a nomenclature which diamet- 
rically contradicts the assumption. They speak 
of the "amount" of electricity, ''collecting" 
electricity, ''charged" with electricity, the "mo- 
tion" of electricity, "storing" electricity, and 
the like. Yet every one knows that if electricity 
is simply a condition of matter there can be no 
such thing as "amount" of condition, "collecting" 
condition, "charged" with condition, "motion" 
of condition, or " storing " condition. Yet these 
terms would be proper if electricity were regarded 
as a substance, or a force proper to a distinct 
substance. The implied contradiction arises from 
thinking properly when following the light of 
intelligence that flows into the eye of the mind, 
that electricity is really something; but when 
thought is led by the eye of the body, because 
the higher substances can not be seen, their 
existence is denied. Thus the sight of the mate- 
rial eye contradicts the sight of the mind. 
When the light of the material eye is followed to 
the exclusion of the light of the mind, which is 
intelligence, materialism ensues, and culminates 
in "total ignorance," which is total mental dark- 
ness ; for the eye of the body does not receive the 

228 



NATURAL FORCES 



light of intelligence, but only the light of nature, 
whence is naturalism and materialism. If our 
materialistic philosophers would think as accu- 
rately as at times they speak, they would experi- 
ence no difficulty in arriving at a consistent and 
satisfactory philosophy of causes. 

The error of regarding electricity merely a 
condition of matter may be seen so clearly that 
there can not be so much as a doubt. Suppose, 
for the purpose, that electricity is a condition of 
matter. How, then, can the mere condition of 
matter, as that of a prime conductor or an electro- 
magnet, operate on a body that is not in actual 
contact with it, as the prime-conductor does upon 
the pith balls suspended by threads, or as the 
electro-magnet does upon the iron filings? The 
condition of one body can not affect another body 
unless there is contact of substance or a medium 
of transference; yet electricity operates through 
as perfect a vacuum as can be made, without any 
perceptible variance. This could not be the case 
if electricity were merely a condition of gross 
matter. The secret cause of the insistence that it 
is a condition of gross matter lies in the endeavor 
to make materialism consistent with itself, for 
it assumes that matter always existed, at least 
in an unorganized form; but as organized matter 
now exists, and substances higher than ponderable 

229 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

matter and its gases are denied, the power to 
organize must be put in the preexisting unor- 
ganized matter: thus the forces of electricity 
share the common fate of being regarded as inher- 
ent in gross matter, or of being relegated to the 
regions of the unknown; for if the position is not 
in all points held, materialism with its self -derived 
superstructure of false reason and conclusion 
must fall. 

Again, to allow that there are ethereal substances 
distinctly superior to grosser matter from which 
matter was derived and wherein its forces origi- 
nate, is contrary to Evolution, for Evolution does 
not derive creation from superior things working 
downward to the end that they may proceed 
upward, but from the lowest kind of matter 
struggling upward. 

Though it is not the purpose here to explain 
the particulars of the phenomena of electricity, 
sufficient may be stated to indicate what elec- 
tricity is, and something of its nature in general 
may be given. 

All experiments show that electricity is the 
subject, and grosser matter the object, necessi- 
tating that it be something apart from the object 
of its action. Electricity is as a cause of which 
its manifestations in grosser matter are effects. 
Electrical apparatus is made as if electricity were 

230 



NATURAL FORCES 

a substance apart from the mechanism. Prac- 
tically, as in the construction of the dynamo, it 
is never thought to arrange its parts so as to 
change the "condition" of the dynamo. The 
''collection" and ''distribution" of electricity^ 
is that which is thought of, talked of, and designed. 
The urgent theorist can hardly suggest that the 
dynamo is constructed to change its own condi- 
tion. The fact that electricity will operate upon 
a magnetic needle in a vacuum, precludes the 
claim that it is a condition of the needle trans- 
ferred from the battery to the needle through the 
air. Communication with the needle must take 
place by means of a medium more subtile than the 
air. To explain the entrance of light into a vacuum, 
the ether is rightly supposed to be of so pure a 
character as to penetrate grosser matter. The 
same reasoning explains the operation of electric- 
ity in a vacuum and its passage from the sun to 
the earth. That electricity is the activity of a 
pure, subtile substance higher than the air and 
grosser matter, is consistent with all its phenomena, 
and is the only basis upon which explanations can 
be approached. It is not necessary to regard it as a 
substance other than ether, for the more the sub- 
ject is investigated the more conclusive does it ap- 
pear that electricity and ether are the same sub- 
stance; or more accurately expressed, ether is a 

231 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



substance, and electricity is the name of one of its 
forms of activity. It is because ether is universally 
diffused and of so pure a character as to pene- 
trate air, earth, and water that electricity may 
be called into action everywhere. 

Ether is the medium of heat and light from the 
sun; but such heat and light are best explained 
as electrical effects of the sun's action; or, in 
other words, they are forms of the activity of 
ether. 

Electrical phenomena are in many ways so 
associated with the sun's condition as to suggest 
that it is the great generator of electricity, as is 
instanced by the electrical disturbance of the 
atmosphere and the display of the aurora when 
the sun spots are numerous. It is the sun's forces 
that lift the waters from the earth in the form of 
vapor, and give rise to clouds, which being charged 
with electricity, as is evidenced in lightning, show 
that heat and light, which are but activities of 
ether, are intimately associated with electricity. 
The light produced by the arc lamp is to all appear- 
ance like that of the sun, though not so intense. 
Upon the analysis of a current of electricity, it is 
found to yield the three great constituents of the 
sun's influx into nature; namely, heat, light, and 
power. From the sun there comes the heat to 
warm the earth, the light to light it, and powers 

232 



NATURAL FORCES 



that work in and upon it, rotating it on its axis 
and impelling it on its orbit. A similar resolution 
of the current of electricity into its attributes is 
seen in the common street car, which receives 
from a copper wire a current of electricity that 
yields the light to light it, the heat to warm it, 
and the power to rotate its wheels. Further, it 
is the common perception of scientists, that 
electrical action has the same origin as sunlight, 
as evinced by the experiments from which such 
conclusions are derived. 

Since the ether is a substance that can be so 
actuated by the sun as to yield heat, light, and 
force of an electrical nature, the economy of nature 
forbids that there should be two such substances, 
and shows that electricity is an activity of ether. 
The electrical apparatus is a device which actuates 
the atmosphere of ether after the manner that 
the sun does, producing analogous effects. Be- 
cause the sun has electrical effects upon the 
earth, it is necessary that there be a medium 
through which its forces are communicated to 
the earth. This medium is universally acknowl- 
edged to be the ether. Then it is clear that the 
ether is capable of being charged with heat, light, 
and power and many natural forces that plant 
and animal life are dependent upon. Experi- 
ments with the Cathode rays give evidence of the 

233 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



varied forms of activity of which electricity or 
ether is capable. 

It has been observed how the various forms of 
attraction have their unity in gravity. Likewise 
the forces of heat, light, and electricity have their 
unity in the highest substance of the sun. 

In regarding the sun as the origin of natural 
forces, which are conveyed to the earth by means 
of the aura and ether, it may seem difficult for 
substances so refined as these to produce the 
effects attributed to them; but the difficulty is 
overcome, in the reflection that grosser matter 
receives all of its forces therefrom, and conse- 
quently that these higher substances not only act 
upon the body of matter, but they also rule as 
the forces that give matter its properties. For 
instance, it may seem impossible for an atmosphere 
so rare as ether to melt by its electrical forces a 
bar of brass, but it is not to be conceived that 
ether seizes the particles of the metal and tears 
them from mutual embrace as with a pair of 
pincers, but rather that it affects directly the 
metal's attraction and thence, as it w^ere in an 
internal way, overcomes the cohesion ; whereupon 
the particles become loosened, and form a fluid, 
a gas, or a vapor. 

All kinds of electricity are the same as to sub- 
Stance, whether produced by friction, chemicals, 

234 



NATURAL FORCES 



or electro-magnets. They differ in their character 
according to the efficacy of the agency that dis- 
turbs the normal condition of the electrical ether, 
and calls it into action. While they are forms of 
the activity of the same substance, it would not be 
contended that the activity is not of somewhat 
different character in each: that of frictional 
electricity is the least free and therefore the weak- 
est; that of chemical origin is more free and 
stronger ; and that generated by the dynamo is the 
most free and the most powerful. 

Phosphorescent light is due to electrical dis- 
turbance caused by the nature of phosphorus. 

Magnetism. 

Magnetism is only another form of the activity 
of ether, whether it be in the artificial magnet or 
in the natural ore. The natural magnet derives 
its character from the metal being of such a nature 
as in a degree to receive and to transmit as from 
itself the general current of electricity that per- 
meates the earth. The magnet derives its forces 
from the ether perpetually. The forces of the 
artificial magnet are due to conditions similar to 
those of the natural magnet being produced in 
the steel by artificial methods. 

Whatever phenomenal properties ponderable 
or imponderable matter, whether discovered or 

235 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



compounded, may exhibit, in the last analysis 
they will be found due to the ability of such matter 
to receive activity from substance of a still higher 
degree, and to emit that activity transformed by 
its own organization. 

Spiritual Force Is Within Natural Force. 

Life flows from the Lord through the inmost 
into the intermediates or interior things, and 
through intermediates or interiors into the exterior 
according to the order in which discrete degrees 
succeed; and there life stops in the ultimate or 
exterior: hence it is that all interior things are 
present together in their ultimates. The succes- 
sive order in which things come forth gives rise 
to simultaneous order, in which the inmost 
remains the center, the intermediates or interiors 
encompass the center, and exteriors or ultimates 
are the circumference. This is true not only in 
general, but in each particular thing. Since all 
interior things are simultaneously present in 
their ultimates, it appears that life is in the 
ultimate, or in nature and its material forms. 
From such appearances materialistic philosophy is 
constructed. Scientists have prosecuted research 
on the plane of continuous degrees of the ulti- 
mates, and they have thereby failed to penetrate 
to interior things of discrete degree. Conse- 

236 



NATURAL FORCES 



quently they derive life as not from the Lord, 
but from nature, of which they have no other 
idea than that it is something mechanical. While 
the fact is that all life is in interiors; and yet 
not in interiors nor in inmosts, but in the Lord 
Himself. 

In a general view the Lord is the inmost and 
center, the spiritual creation is the intermediate, 
and the natural world is the outermost and cir- 
cumference in which all prior things momentarily 
subsist in simultaneous order. In looking upon 
the arm of the workman as he labors, only a unit, 
the arm, is seen. But within the arm are numerous 
muscles, and back of these are myriads of nerves, 
fibers, and fibrillae, and back of these are thoughts 
and affections with their countless forms ; yet all 
these successively higher degrees act as one with 
every movement of the arm. Numerous as they 
are, superior as they are to the unit that the eye 
sees, they subsist simultaneously in it, and act as 
one by it. The arm can not move until the cen- 
tral point, the desire, acts. Nor can any power 
be manifested in nature that does not likewise 
come from its center, the Creator. Back of every 
force in nature, be it but the tiny capillary force, 
the forces of the planes higher than gross matter 
act ; back of these the forces in all the degrees of 
the spiritual world are active, and back of these is 

237 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the First Cause, the Creator, all interior things 
subsisting in simultaneous order in the ultimate, 
and acting as one with it. Until this is perceived, 
no one can have any idea of the wonders of creation 
other than as something that can not be imder- 
stood or explained. 



238 



CHAPTER XII. 
MATTER. 



General Knowledge About Matter. 

It is now to be considered what can be known 
about matter. Take for illustration sulphur. Its 
qualities, the way it affects other substances, and 
the impressions that it makes upon the senses 
may be known. It is almost tasteless; in com- 
bination it has a peculiar odor; it crystallizes, is 
combustible, and the like. It melts, forming a 
fluid; vaporizes, and assumes the form of a gas 
in combination with some other substances. 
What then is sulphur in its common form? It is 
sulphur atoms compact and reduced to the most 
latent state. As such a form, it receives into it the 
activity of gravity, and is gifted with certain 
powers of attraction, atomicity, chemical affinity, 
and like forces. It modifies in a way peculiar to 
itself the influent rays of light, and bears certain 
relations to other forms of matter. In such 
ways and in such degree matter is generally 
known. 

239 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



How Matter Is Created. 

Having ascertained what mineral sulphur is as 
to its qualities, we may now inquire as to what 
is sulphur itself; or, in a general form, what is 
matter itself. The proper answer to this question 
involves a prior conception of the process of 
creation. 

It has been observed that the Creator is a sub- 
stantial being whose substance is self-existing, 
and therefore uncreate. The first created sub- 
stance was formed, as only it could be, from the 
uncreated substance of the Creator by being put 
forth from Him. Thereby life itself, or activity 
in the first degree, was withdrawn, and it became 
discreted from the uncreated substance of the 
Creator, yet remaining perpetually dependent 
upon Him for its existence or standing forth. 
The uncreate substance of the Creator is self- 
active and life itself, while the highest created 
substance depends upon the uncreated for its 
activity, and has the capacity for activity in the 
highest degree withdrawn. From the highest 
created substance the next lower is formed, being 
derived from it by more simple composition, 
compression, and devitalization, thus forming a 
lower discrete degree. In like manner the succes- 
sive discrete degrees of spiritual substances were 

240 



MATTER 



formed. The creative energy, operating through 
these, formed the highest substances of nature 
from which the sun is constituted by still further 
compression, less complex composition, and the 
consequent withdrawing of activity to that degree 
which characterizes the natural world. Through 
the instrumentality of the sun and from it, degrees 
of matter are formed in a like way until the aura, 
ether, air, and lastly the rock are formed, which 
last, being of the simplest and grossest composi- 
tion, and having activity withdrawn in the last 
degree, is inert and passive. The process is illus- 
trated by the gathering together of the atoms of 
sulphur when in the gaseous form and their 
condensation into the mineral. If a true and 
adequate conception of creation is had, it is nec- 
essary to perceive that creation, having been 
thus put forth, is held in being perpetually from 
within by the Creator from whom it came into 
existence, wherefore subsistence is perpetual exist- 
ence. Such is the relation between a superior 
degree and a lower one that were the superior de- 
grees removed, the lower would immediately be 
dissipated. 

What Matter Is In Its Essence. 

Having made these observations, it may now 
be said that matter in itself is spiritual substance 

i6 241 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

gathered together, compressed, and condensed 
until it is inert. It is then naturally asked, What 
is spiritual substance? It is the substance of the 
Creator put forth in subordinate form, com- 
pressed, and with potencies and activity with- 
drawn in that degree which distinguishes the 
created. Lastly there arises the question. What is 
the substance of the Creator ? It is, as has been 
previously shown, the Uncreate, Self -existing 
Substance forming the DIVINE HUMAN, which 
is Eternal, Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and 
Essential LOVE. 



242 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE RELATION OF FORCES. 



The Different Kinds Of Forces Are But 
Varied Manifestations Of One Force, 
Which In Its Origin Is 
Spiritual. 

The different kinds of force are a unit in the 
Creator. When force descends from the Creator 
through the successive degrees in creation and 
becomes operative on various planes, different kinds 
of force appear, the kinds being the varied poten- 
cies of one Divine Force. All forms of force are 
therefore spiritual in their origin. 

Force being received according to the degree 
and structure of the receiving form, there appear 
the forces of affection, of thought, of the muscles 
and bodily organs, of animal instinct, of plant 
life, of gravity, electricity, attraction, and the 
like. These forces being derived from one supreme 
Force, and the lower of them from the next higher, 
are so interrelated, one appearing as another, that 
it may be well to consider their relation in a general 
way. 

243 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Transference, Transformation, And Genera- 
tion Of Force Distinguished 
Generally. 

By transference is here meant the communica- 
tion of force without a change of its degree or 
intrinsic character. 

By transformation of force is to be understood 
that transference of force which occurs when the 
activity of a higher degree sets in action a lower 
degree. This is sometimes called the metamor- 
phosis of force. It is optional which term is used, 
if it is employed with a correct idea of the process 
of which the term is but a name. In the trans- 
formation of force the force of one degree is not 
changed into that of another degree. When 
love from God yields its endeavor in the will of 
man, the will acts according to its own quality. 
When the will passes its endeavor to the under- 
standing, the understanding acts according to its 
own form or knowledge. And when the under- 
standing communicates endeavor to the nerves 
and muscles, they act according to the nature 
of their respective organisms. The endeavor 
proceeds to effect use on the plane and according 
to the form and quality of the receiving organism. 
But love from God, the force of the will, the force 
of the understanding, nervous force, and muscular 

244 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



force remain ever the same in their respective 
organisms. One does not "turn into" the other. 
Nothing could be further from the truth than this 
conception, for all exist at one time on their 
respective planes, the higher being within the 
lower in simultaneous order, and all act at one 
time as one. So of nature in general and in every 
particular. For, as has been illustrated, within 
every natural force there exist all the discrete 
degrees that constitute creation in general, and 
all the degrees are present acting at once in the 
ultimate ; for nature reaches up toward the Creator 
by discrete degrees that she may derive, by the 
passing of endeavor down through the degrees, 
all her forces from the Omnipotent — the All- 
Power. 

In the descent of life from the Creator into 
lower forms, it must be understood that life itself 
does not change or vary, but the inflowing life 
produces an appearance of the form of the recipient 
by which and from which the life is transmitted; 
or, if clearer, the inflowing life clothes itself with 
the form of the recipient, and so presents itself. 
This is illustrated by several persons before a 
mirror, and each one by the same light seeing 
himself as he is. The Lord Himself is the only 
Life Itself, and the only one who lives from and 
in Himself. 



245 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The examinations of a few of the operations of 
force will illustrate the principles by which the 
kinds of force may be distinguished. 

When Transformation Of Force Takes Place. 

In general there is always a transformation of 
force when activity passes from a higher discrete 
degree to a lower; consequently as the natural 
world derives its forces from the spiritual, there 
is a transformation of force in the communication 
of spiritual forces to the natural world. It will 
be recalled that as the universe and man are of 
the same form by the similar arrangement of 
discrete degrees, the transformation of the forces 
of the spiritual world into those of the natural is 
illustrated and explained by the passing of mental 
or spiritual forces in man into muscular or physi- 
cal forces. That is, as the force of the will, or of 
desire, which is a spiritual force, causes by means 
of the human form the stroke of the oar, so the 
forces of the spiritual world, through the consti- 
tution of the universe, produce natural forces. 
Herein there are ample illustrations of the trans- 
formation or metamorphosis of force in the only 
true sense of these terms. When love produces 
thought, and when thought produces act, there 
is such transformation. Affection and thought 
become the forces of the heart and lungs, and of 

246 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



the whole body, by the same process, which is 
Correspondence, as previously defined. 

Transference Of Force Illustrated. 

The following is a familiar instance of the 
transference of force. The expanding steam com- 
municates its movement to the piston-head. The 
force that expands the steam is the force that 
moves the piston. By means of the crank-shaft 
the straight motion of the piston is converted into 
circular motion, and through intricate machinery 
this force is finally transformed into the complex 
operations of manufacturing devices. But from 
first to last the force is the force of the vibrating 
molecules of steam transferred and turned into 
different forms of activity. The force is the 
same, of the same intrinsic nature throughout, 
and of the same degree, variously appearing 
through simple transference of force. The com- 
munication of the activity of a ringing bell to 
the atmosphere, or of the force of a bat to a ball, 
and the like, are examples of the transference of 
force. 

What Generation Of Force Is. 

The generation of force, though accompanied 
by both transference and transformation of force, 
should be distinguished from them. The force of 

247 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

steam operating an engine passes to an attached 
dynamo. The force in the dynamo is the same 
as that of the piston-head and of the steam. Yet 
the force of electricity generated by the dynamo 
is not the force of steam nor of the coal, but of 
electricity operative when the latent state of 
ether is overcome. Electricity is generated by 
the continual breakings of the attraction between 
the fields and armature of the dynamo, and is 
not the force of the steam transferred or trans- 
formed. It is true that the force of steam does this 
breaking; but the force generated is clearly one 
natural to electricity and not to steam or to coal. 
The force of steam simply overcomes the force 
that holds ether in a latent state. The force of 
the steam is not changed into the force of elec- 
tricity, but is used in producing such a condition 
as will allow the ether to assume an activity 
natural to it. This activity is derived from that 
of a superior atmosphere, communicable when 
the particles of ether are sufficiently freed to 
respond. That only a certain amount of electri- 
cal force can be generated by a given amount of 
heat-force in coal or steam, is not because only the 
force that is in the steam or coal can be trans- 
ferred to the ether, but it is due to the fact that 
latent ether can become active only in proportion 
to the disturbance of its equilibrium ; but this dis- 

248 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



turbance of course has its ratio to the force in 
steam or in coal. 

The generation of force may thus be seen to be 
accompanied by the transference of force essen- 
tial to produce certain conditions, and by the 
transformation of force or the inflow of activity 
from a superior substance. In the transforma- 
tion of force, the inflowing activity passes in as 
endeavor, is appropriated by the receiving sub- 
stance, and is manifested by it as from itself 
according to its form. Or, what is the same, 
there is no transformation or metamorphosis 
of force other than that of Correspondence, 
wherein force always descends, but can never 
ascend. 

The Existence Of Force In Nature Is Momen- 
tarily Dependent Upon Influx From The 
Spiritual World, And Primarily 
From The Creator. 

We have shown that creation is adapted to 
receive influx from the Creator, who is life itself. 
Each created substance by constant infltrx receives, 
pursuant to the unvarying laws of its substance 
and form, the forces natural to it, commonly 
called inherent, which under favorable circum- 
stances become manifest as activity. 

The higher we ascend the scale of discrete 
249 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

substances, the more active and more capable 
do they become. The atmosphere will eat away 
the hardest wood, and even the metals are con- 
simied by it. The atoms of gases are known to 
be in greater activity than atoms of rock. Elec- 
tricity will decompose water as well as rend 
asunder the hardest oak, and melt down bars of 
brass. In short, the more interior the atmosphere 
the more powerfully active it is. The lower planes 
of substances being formed from and through the 
higher, and held out and in form by them, the 
higher continually exercise a force upon and 
within the lower. The nearer the lower substances 
come to the freedom of the higher, which operate 
upon and within the lower, the more adapted 
they are to take up the activity of the higher. 
When all restraining influences are removed 
from the lower, the lower substance takes upon 
itself immediately an activity corresponding with 
the activity of the higher as perfectly as its lower 
form will allow. To illustrate; the atoms of gas 
condensed in a grain of powder, being loosened, 
assume instantly the vibration of the gas in its 
natural state, hence comes the expansion. The 
force of expansion comes from the activity of the 
gas-atoms. The activity of the g'as-atoms is 
from a force constantly imparted to them from 
the activity of an atmosphere more interior and 

250 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



from which the gas was originally derived, as from 
the activity of ether and aura. 

The force in any plane of nature is derived from 
influx from a higher plane of substance. An atom 
of gas has of itself no more power to lift itself up 
from the grain of powder and to assume more 
intense vibrations than has a rock to do the 
same. Yet the rock will not explode, while the 
powder will, because the constituency of the pow- 
der is such as more readily to receive influx. All 
nature is every moment dependent for its energy 
upon an influx of activity from the spiritual 
world, which, being nearer the Creator, is actuated 
from Him. 

Natural Force Cannot Be Transformed Into 
Mental Or Spiritual Force. 

The subtilty with which force is transformed 
has led to the frequent inference that there is such 
a thing as force apart from substance; and the 
misapprehension of the nature of force operative 
in matter has caused a consequent misunder- 
standing in regard to force in the mind and 
in the body of man ; like the belief that the forces 
of heat, light, and of material motion in general, 
become in the mind modes of consciousness. 
Into this error Spencer and his school have 
fallen, as is evident from his final conclusion in 

251 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the discussion of force. "How this metamor- 
phosis takes place — how a force existing as 
motion, heat or Hght, can become a mode of 
consciousness — how it is possible for aerial 
vibrations to generate the sensation we call 
sound, or for the forces liberated by chemical 
changes in the brain to give rise to emotion — 
these are mysteries which it is impossible to 
fathom." ^ By this it is seen how materialism 
teaches that the activities of matter, such as heat 
and light, are metamorphosed into consciousness ; 
that aerial vibrations generate the sensation of 
sound, and that emotions are the forces in matter 
liberated by the chemical changes of the food we 
eat. Yet as execrably materialistic, idolatrous 
and profane as this may seem, it must be con- 
ceded that it is in harmony with the general 
evolutionary argument, which holds that the 
forces proper to matter, working upward, have 
evolved the higher forms of life. One is as true 
as the other. 

The theory that mental forces are those of 
matter transferred or metamorphosed is frequently 
supported by the illustration that the human 
body is like a machine, the stomach being the 
furnace, and the food analogous to the fuel from 



Spencer, First Principles, p. 217. 
252 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



which the forces of the mind, affection and thought, 
are derived. It is held that the chemical changes 
going on in the stomach and in the system in 
general, generate heat and forms of activity, 
which are communicated to the blood; the blood 
in turn conveys them to the brain, and the con- 
sequent chemical changes and activity in the 
brain produce affection and thought. It is this 
erroneous conception that Materialists have 
in mind in teaching that forces liberated by 
chemical changes in the brain give rise to emotion. 
Pursuing the same order of reasoning, Spencer 
concludes that the "evolution of thought and 
emotion varies, other things being equal, with 
the supply of blood to the brain." ^ If this were 
true, to think prolifically or love intently one 
need but to invert the body, when the rush of 
blood to the head would be accompanied by the 
"evolution of thought and emotion." The fact 
is that increased affection and thought operative 
in the mind communicate a correspondingly 
augmented activity to the brain itself, which 
thereby consumes more blood-supply in re- 
pairing the waste and in building anew to 
meet the increased force of affection and 
thought. 



* First Principles, p. 215. 
253 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



The same law is true of the muscles. They do 
not act nor grow in proportion to the flow of blood 
to them, but by their use more of the cell struc- 
ture is appropriated, and by the increase of the 
power that operates in the muscles more blood is 
drawn there to be consumed. 

The Forces In The Body Are From The Forces 
Of Affection And Thought. 

The forces "liberated by chemical changes** 
do not pass up and become mental forces, or 
muscular forces. They are expended on their 
own plane in forming new compounds for growth 
or repairs. They are not in any way whatever 
convertible into vital or mental forces. The 
fact is this. Affection and thought are derived 
from the Creator through the activity of the atmos- 
pheres of the spiritual world, which coincide with 
the spiritual organism of the mind and produce 
therein affection and thought, as the sun in nature 
produces heat and light. The brain substances, 
which are the first material clothing of the mind, 
receive force and activity therefrom. This is 
the vital force in the body. The forces liberated by 
chemical changes go no further than to produce 
that condition in matter which prepares it to 
respond to the vital force. The flow of blood to 
the brain and the muscles is not to give them ac- 

254 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 

tivity, which it has no power to do, but to supply 
material in the proper condition to be used by the 
vital forces, in structure, repair, and use. The blood 
furnishes material, warmth, and chemical condi- 
tions essential to the operation of vital forces, but 
in the first instance the vital forces give to the 
organs of the body the forces essential to prepare 
suitable supplies and to convey them to the places 
of need. This the vital force can do because the 
nerve fluids, the brain, the blood, and the muscles 
are themselves organisms that receive the vital 
force and appropriate it on their respective planes 
to the accomplishment of their individual offices. 
It is this derived force, this inflowing life-force 
that gives direction in the body, and that in form- 
ing the body makes use of attraction, chemical 
affinity, osmosis, capillarity, and other material 
forces. The result is not that ''the evolution of 
thought and emotion varies with the supply of 
blood to the brain," but the inverse; that thought 
and emotion communicate activity to the brain 
whereby more vital force is centered there, and 
greater activity of the brain-particles ensues, 
more corpuscles are used, and more blood is 
required. It is not a material force freed from 
matter by chemical change that travels from the 
stomach to the brain, is converted into a vital 
force, descends to the muscles, and lifts a thou- 

255 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



sand pounds; for the human form is a structure 
reaching up by means of its internal organism to 
coincide with and to be in Correspondence with 
the spiritual atmospheres charged from the 
Creator with the activities of Divine Human 
Nature. The human form is so constructed that 
it can voluntarily open to receive those activities, 
yielded more abundantly from an increased inflow 
of vital force, and control them to use. The force 
of affection and thought by Correspondence 
becomes the vital force of the spiritual body, and 
by still further descent it becomes the vital forces 
of the nervous fluids, the brain, the muscles, and 
the whole material body. 

The tons of muscular force exerted in a day 
by a laboring man, vastly too great to be derived 
from the matter introduced into the stomach, 
are the force of will or the endeavor of affection 
transformed by Correspondence. Will-force be- 
comes nervous force, and nervous force becomes 
muscular force. By use the structure of the body 
wears away, simply to repair which is the highest 
office performed by matter or its forces. Muscular 
force can not be converted into nerve-force, for 
muscular force is nervous force communicated 
to the muscular system. Nervous forces are not 
convertible into the forces of the mind, for mental 
forces are spiritual forces operative in the organ- 

256 



THE RELATION OF FORCES 



ism of the mind ; and spiritual forces are not con- 
vertible into Divine Force, for Divine Force is the 
vital activity in the Creator from which all force 
is derived and momentarily sustained. In other 
words, higher forces do not originate in lower 
ones. The forces of a lower degree are not con- 
vertible into the forces of a higher degree. The 
higher forms of force, which are more complex 
forms of activity in superior substance, can by no 
law be derived from the lower, though the lower 
forces may produce such condition that the higher 
communicate activity to a lower plane. Yet there 
is reaction from the forces in the lower planes, 
for if there was not, the interior and volatile sub- 
stances would not be contained, and so would be 
dissolved, whereupon their forces would cease 
to appear. 

Voluntary And Involuntary Forces. 

The involuntary functions of the body are 
operated by the continual inflijix of the life-force, 
which, by Correspondence, becomes the organic 
forces of the body. The involuntary forces are 
possible and as powerful as they are because the 
mind is a mxcchanism open to the constant and 
immeasurable forces in the spiritual vv^orld, from 
which by Correspondence the mind receives its 
powers. 



17 



257 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Forces are involuntary because their organs 
receive fibers from the cerebellum, the organ of the 
will; while the voluntary powers are from organs 
that receive fibers from the cerebrum, the organ 
of understanding, from which the mind has sen- 
sation and control. 



253 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 



The Spiritual World Is The Soul Of The 
Natural World. 

Having shown that the human material body 
is an organism of successive degrees operated 
by a spiritual body within, and that the spiritual 
body is composed of a like series of degrees 
ascending to the Creator by whom it is actuated 
and vivified, we may now pass on to consider 
those forms possessed of life in some degree, 
yet which have not such an organized soul as 
man has. 

It would naturally be suggested that though 
the existence of such a soul, ascending by more 
delicate and complex structures to receive vitality 
from the Creator, accounts for the vital force 
in man, the vital forces in plants and lower animals 
are still unexplained; and if plants and lower 
animals can be vivified without a soul, why can 
not man likewise receive life ? Plants and animals 
have not souls like those of man. If they 

259 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



had, they would have been human beings from 
the beginning, for the soul makes the material 
body a counterpart after its own form. Yet, 
though they have not human souls, they have 
a counterpart within formed from spiritual 
substance. It should be recalled that material 
substance in general is the body of which the 
spiritual world is the soul, as was shown previously. 
Unorganized matter is, as it were, a gross ex- 
crescence of the spiritual world whose substances 
are immediately back of matter, and which by 
their forces perpetually hold it forth and in form. 
Indeed, such is the relation between the spiritual 
substance back of matter and matter itself that, 
were the spiritual removed, the material could 
not exist. 

Every Material Object Has An Internal 
Spiritual Counterpart, Or Soul, 
That Is Analogous To The 
Material Form. 

Minerals, plants, and animals differ in their 
m.aterial organization. Mineral, in the geolog- 
ical sense, may be considered to be simply 
unorganized matter, though technically any form 
of matter other than an elementary substance in 
its primordial purity might be thought of as an 
organized body. Metals, crystals, and the like are 

260 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



matter organized in the first degree. Plants are 
matter organized in the second degree. They have 
an external body from grosser matter, and also a 
more internal organization of sap and fluids sensi- 
tive to plant life-force. Animals are an organiza- 
tion still higher, having a sensory organization, 
volition, and instinct. These three kinds of life 
mark three great divisions. Though life in one 
sense may comprehend all existing forms, varying 
by increments from pure elementary substance 
up to and including human beings, our under- 
standing need not be confused. Some plants 
are called sensitive, but their sensitiveness is 
not conscious sensation; nor is their movement 
due to a specially organized will. Their sensitive- 
ness is not sensation because they have no self- 
consciousness. Their seeming sensation and action 
are from the Divine Will and Understanding, 
and like the seeming will and understanding 
in the atom, they are the appearance of the 
Divine Will and Understanding in the ultimate. 
The sensory organization, together with volition 
and instinct, properly distinguish animals from 
plants. The animal has an organism much supe- 
rior to but fundamentally like that of the plant, 
the flesh and bones being analogous to the body of 
the plant ; the bark to the skin ; and blood to the 
sap. In addition, the animal has a nervous 

261 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

system from which is self-consciousness and 
sensation. The brain and nervous system of 
animals is the receptacle of their life-force, which 
is manifested in the higher animals as an instinct 
approaching the simpler forms of reason. Man 
has a body, blood, and nervous system analogous 
to that of animals ; but he has added the rational 
degree of the mind by which is intelligence and 
worship through the acknowledgment of the 
Creator. A difference in degree is quite univer- 
sally acknowledged as existing respectively be- 
tween matter, plants, animals, and man. A 
like difference exists between their counterparts 
of spiritual substance. Matter in general has 
back of it the unorganized substance of the 
spiritual world as its soul. Metals, crystals, 
and the like have counterparts of spiritual sub- 
stance organized in analogous degrees. Plants 
have a counterpart organized of spiritual sub- 
stances, ascending as high in the spiritual degrees 
as the plant does in those of nature. Animals 
have a counterpart ascending still higher in the 
degrees of the spiritual world, corresponding 
to the ascent in nature. And the human counter- 
part, called the soul, ascends still higher in the 
spiritual world, and so near to the Creator that 
it may receive human love and wisdom from 
His Divine Human. 

262 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



It may be said that matter has a sotd, if by 
soul is understood the unorganized substance 
of the spiritual world that stands back of matter ; 
and that plants have souls, if it is understood 
that they have an organization within formed 
from the substances of the spiritual world, and 
in degrees analogous to those of the material 
structure; and that animals have souls, if by 
the animal soul is understood an organization 
of spiritual substances within and superior to 
the material form and in degrees of spiritual 
substance analogous to those of the animal 
body. The primiary difference between minerals, 
metals, plants, animals, and man is in the differ- 
ence of the interior organizations of the spiritual 
counterparts, which receive life from the Creator 
according to their forms. 

Every Thing Must In Proportion To The 
Degree Of Its Life Reach Up By Its 
Organization To The Plane From Which 
Its Life Is Derived, And Wherein 
Reside The Causes Of Its 
Organization. 

It may be observed that though man lives 
from the Creator because he has an interior, 
spiritual organization ascending in the sensitive- 
ness of its substances until it is responsive to 

263 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



human life from the Creator, yet animals, a degree 
lower, have not that human structure, and are 
not responsive to love and wisdom from the 
Creator; nor are plants, which are still lower, 
and yet both live. Why then can not the spiritual 
degree be dispensed with altogether, and plants 
live simply from the material part; and if plants 
live without the spiritual part, why can not 
animals, and even man? Because matter, in- 
cluding the whole material universe, is the ulti- 
mate of creation and is fixed, passive, and dead. 
Matter must have something to imbue it with 
properties, qualities and life, build it into form, 
and hold it in shape. The substances of the 
spiritual world are not fixed, dead, and passive. 
They are continually responsive to the life-force 
from the Creator, and act perpetually upon the 
material universe from within. 

The Organic Difference Between Animal And 
Man Is Primarily Due To The Superior 
Degree In The Human Form, Called 
The Inmost, And To The 
Internal Mind. 

In order that there be a material plant or 
animal, there must be the builder and the material. 
Nature affords the material ; the spiritual counter- 
part is the bmlder. The plant has not a form 

264 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 

so highly constructed as to receive activity 
directly from the Creator, but it lives through 
an influx from Him into the degrees of the spirit- 
ual world, with which the spiritual counterpart 
coincides and corresponds. So also of animals. 
They can not receive life immediately from the 
Creator, but they derive it from the Creator 
through the spiritual degrees of their souls, or 
spiritual counterparts, which are coincident with 
the spiritual world. As the plant is the lowest 
living form in the natural world, the plant soul 
is the lowest living form in the spiritual world. 
The animal soul differs from the plant soul, as 
the animal differs from the plant, in having organs 
of sensation, volition, and instinct. The huinan 
soul differs from the animal soul in having added 
the rational degree, as the human brain differs 
from the animal in having an organism for the 
rational faculty. Technically the animal differs 
from man in having only the Natural Mind 
c, d, and e ; while man has in addition the Spirit- 
ual Mind C, D, and E, and the Inmost, B. (Dia- 
gram II, p. 155.) Every scholar knows that the 
Word speaks of animals as having souls, and 
that it uses the same words to designate the 
human soul, though it does not attribute ever- 
lasting life to the souls of animals. The Inmost 
is that highest organism of the htimail soul 

265 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



proximate to the Creator, in which He dwells 
by immediate infiiix, and by which man is con- 
joined to Him. Being so conjoined to the Creator, 
man can never die. The animal soul, not having 
that Inmost and thereby conjunction with the 
Creator, upon the death of the material body 
is dissolved, and its spiritual particles return 
to the unorganized form of spiritual substance 
as the material particles of the natural body 
return to unorganized nature. Man, having the 
suitable internal, receives Divine love and wisdom 
from the Creator, and thereby may become the 
image and likeness of God. He is thus enabled 
to reason from cause to effect, to learn truths 
from teachers, books, and revelation, and from 
interior perception of Divine order, through 
instruction and experience, comprehend Divine 
uses, shun evils, and worship God from a love 
for God and from a desire to attain unto fulness 
and perfection. 

The animal is entirely wanting in these abilities 
because the Inmost, in which the Creator dwells 
and to which He imparts His human nature, 
and the Spiritual Mind are wholly wanting. 
But because they have that which is below these, 
they receive an influx from the coincident planes 
of the spiritual world, whereby they know their 
food, provide for their young, seek shelter, flee 

266 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



from their enemies, preserve themselves from 
destruction, and are provided with that which 
is their natural good. This faculty is called 
instinct. 

The minds of animals are not directed and 
governed by rational volition. They have no 
reason. How their minds are operative is illus- 
trated by the state of man in dreaming. 

Because of the relatively high organization 
of the soul of the superior animals, it is natural 
and evident that, in some cases, instinct would 
approach the lowest forms of reasoning. Instinct 
sometimes appears to involve cause and effect, as 
when an animal lifts a door-latch, or being sick 
leaves its proper food to feed upon some medici- 
nal herb; yet such acts are not accompanied 
by an intelligent perception of cause and effect, 
and are therefore merely instinctive. 

Incidents are common wherein animals have 
seemed to exercise reason, but upon a full under- 
standing of all the circumstances their acts fall 
clearly within the compass of instinct. That 
animals have language, other than instinctive 
utterance and acts, is scarcely worthy of serious 
discussion. The higher animals being forms 
approaching so nearly the human, and having 
a corresponding spiritual counterpart, receive 
life more fully from the activities in the spiritual 

267 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



world and from the sphere of man, which suffi- 
ciently accounts for their instincts, howsoever 
near they may approach human reasoning. 

The absence of the Inmost, wherein the Creator 
is present by influx directly from Himself and 
bestows love and wisdom like that in His own 
Human, and the lack of the entire Internal Mind, 
demonstrate animals to be without the human 
essentials, and explain and define their limita- 
tions. Not having the human rational, they 
can not lift themselves above the order of instinc- 
tive life. 

Animals Have Souls Or Spiritual Correlatives 
Of The Natural Body. 

The conclusion that animals have a counter- 
part formed from the substances of the spiritual 
world and reaching upward in the spiritual 
world as the body does in nature; or in other 
words, that they have souls which are correl- 
atives or prototypes of their bodies, is forced 
upon us by the same reasons that demonstrate 
the existence of a soul in man. Their instinct, 
though less than human rationality, is equally 
unexplainable by the inherent capacities of 
matter; so also is the design evidenced in the 
formation of their bodies. If animals are con- 
ceded to have an interior structure of spiritual 

268 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



substances coordinate with the degree of their 
life, the philosophy of their existence is as ex- 
plicable as that of man. 

Plants Have Corresponding Correlative Spir- 
itual Forms. 

Though plants are distinctly lower than animals, 
still it is evident that matter has neither the 
ability to arrange itself in plant structure, nor 
to employ the intelligence therein displayed, 
nor to originate the force known as plant life. 
What is it that determines the shape of a leaf, 
the kind of tree, the character of the fruit; or 
that one animal shall have claws and canine 
teeth, and another hoofs and a cutting plate; 
or that this member shall be a hand and another 
a foot? In giving the principles that control 
these phenomena, let us trace the development 
of a seed from which a plant is derived. 

The general principles of growth and life are 
alike in both plants and animals. The plant- 
soul, a prototype of the plant, being formed 
from the lower substances of the spiritual world, 
receives activity therefrom according to the 
plant-form, which activity becomes plant life. 
This activity is communicated to the sap of the 
material tree, and thence to the sedimentary 
and solid parts. Thereby life flows into the 

269 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



tree, causing the trunk to put forth branches; 
the branches, leaves; and these produce flowers, 
and the flowers, fruits or seeds. Thus the Hfe 
of the plant from first to last enters into the seed. 

For general illustration take the acorn. It 
is the last thing of the tree that is formed. It is 
the ultimate end for which the tree exists. At 
first the acorn is a little vessel of pure, milky 
fluid. In it the life of the whole tree, roots, 
trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers, flows, gathers 
and terminates. The plastic fluids of the seed, 
being responsive to delicate forces, are shaped 
by plant life into a form that clothes, as it were, 
its forms of activity, and corresponds to it. So 
while the seed is in the milk, the forces of tree- 
life act into the acorn, gently and gradually 
weaving and shaping the interior and purer 
essence of the seed so as to make it a form in 
which tree-life can terminate and abide. The 
tree, from first to last, puts itself into the seed 
by forming the seed a receptacle of tree-life. 
The activity of tree-life having disposed the 
milky substance into a form receptive of its 
forces, the venous system of the seed is filled 
with solid substances, which gradually harden 
as the whole of the tree's life as a complete unit 
enters it, reforms in it, and weans it from the 
tree. Before the acorn is matured, it receives 

270 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



the current of life through the parent oak. Its 
maturity consists in the completion of its form so 
that it need no longer receive life from the tree, 
but is able to receive life from the general sphere 
of plant life. 

When the ripened acorn drops from the tree, 
it is a consolidated form in which plant life 
abides, because the very structure within the 
hardened kernel is a form which is the natural 
outbirth of plant life with which it has ever been 
in Correspondence. When the seed was in the 
milk, it was all active with the flow of life. When 
coagulated its particles are relatively quiescent, 
not because the form is destroyed or that life- 
force has left it, but since the fluids are very 
largely extracted and the substances so consoli- 
dated, they can not so fully respond to the gentle 
pulsations of plant life that centers in it. The 
endeavor resides within, but its purpose is re- 
strained by the hardened kernel. That the seed 
might become such a form, it was surrounded by 
a coarse bur to protect the more delicate matter 
from injury. Inside the bur is a shell finer than 
the outer bur, but tougher than the kernel, 
which acted as a covering to the milky substances 
within while the plant life forces were shaping 
them into a suitable receptacle where they might 
dwell. Within the kernel plant life-forces in 

271 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



their discrete degrees perpetually dv/ell in simul- 
taneous order, and are ever ready to take up their 
full movement when the particles of the kernel 
are softened, loosened, and properly conditioned. 
To prove it, it is only necessary to plant the seed; 
when they will show themselves by unfolding 
their full powers in a new tree. 

Since the forces in matter have not the intelli- 
gence displayed in plant formation, and forces 
can not exist apart from substance, it is beyond 
question that there are substances coordinate 
with the forces of plant life. These substances 
could not give the plant definite shape if they 
did not form a correlative organism within the 
seed, which is in touch with the realm of plant 
life-force. The material part of the seed is a 
little ladder ascending up to the spiritual counter- 
part. There are the bur, the shell, the kernel, 
the oily fluid, and the purest essence of the seed, 
which, under favorable circumstances, can take 
up fully the activity of plant life. The spiritual 
part is a like structure reaching upward in the 
spiritual world, not by extending through space, 
but by interior organization. The seed, then, 
is composed of two parts, the lower or material, 
and the higher or spiritual. The lower is a series 
of degrees ascending in nature, and in Correspond- 
ence with its degrees. The higher part is a like 

272 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



series joining on to the highest material part, 
and ascending analogously in the spiritual world 
with which it is in Correspondence. The activity 
of the spiritual world, one of the forms of which 
is manifested as plant life, operates perpetually 
upon and within the higher part, or plant-soul, 
and this acts upon and within the material part. 

The development of the plant takes place 
when the seed is rightly conditioned. The soil 
yields moisture, and softens its substances. 
The sun gives heat and light, whereby chemical 
changes set in and prepare substance for the 
plant's structure. When the material part is 
softened and becomes responsive to the soul- 
form, the latter is freed also and becomes more 
responsive to the force of plant life, which then 
begins to develop the plant-soul into a plant. 
The plant-soul develops into a plant as fast as 
the material part can be formed as the basis 
upon which it can rest and within which it can 
be contained and preserved from dissolution. 
As heat, light, and nourishment are provided, 
the plant-soul unfolds, and clothes itself in nature 
with a corresponding body, communicating to 
it the tendencies, appetites, qualities, forces, 
and essentials with which a plant is endowed. 
By this means the plant in nature assumes a 
form analogous to its spiritual correlative, for 
i8 273 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



matter has no power of itself to rise up and to 
form into a tree. The material tree is simply 
a body taken on to clothe the plant-soul, which 
is a form made of spiritual substances through 
the vital forces in the spiritual world derived 
from the Creator. 

Upon this basis, that difference between plants 
whereby an acorn produces an oak and a beech- 
nut a beech, or the leaves of one plant are rotund, 
and of another are linear, is readily accounted for. 
The acorn from the beginning has been the avenue 
and reservoir of oak-tree life. The genus, character, 
and life of the oak have from the beginning flowed 
through the tree into the seed, and have made 
it a vessel and form of oak character. The oak 
has put its whole self into the seed, and made 
it an initial oak form, but nothing else. When 
the acorn is planted, only what is within can 
unfold. It is essentially a form receptive of such 
qualities as the oak has, and it brings forth 
according to its form and kind. 

So of every seed. There are infinite potencies 
in the activities of the spiritual world, and each 
kind of seed is a specific form receptive of its 
individual potency. External agencies can not 
change the essential potency of a seed or plant, 
though varying conditions may, within limita- 
tions, affect the manifestation of it, as in the 

274 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



development of flowers and fruits by cultivation 
and pruning. This is because a seed derives its 
powers from its soul-form, which, being organized 
and in the world of causes, shapes the seed and 
the plant after its own pattern. 

After the first creation, which will be considered 
subsequently, plant life is conveyed in the channels 
of a previously formed seed, and can but take 
upon itself the genus of the seed. 

How plants receive their distinctive life from 
the common sphere of plant-force in the spiritual 
world may be illustrated by two machines con- 
nected to a common shaft rotated by the same 
engine. One machine weaves a delicate silk 
fabric; the other extracts metal from the ore. 
Though the same force is transferred to the 
machines, they variously manifest it according 
to their forms. Each seed and plant receives 
force from the fountain of life, wherein there 
are infinite potencies, and manifests it, as it only 
can, according to its constituted form. 

The Arrangement Of Matter In The Form Of 
The Animal Body Takes Place In 
Correspondence With The 
Animal Soul. 

Having explained with such detail in regard 
to plant forms, it may be briefly said that in a 

275 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



like manner the intelligence with which matter 
takes its place in animal bodies is due to the 
animal soul, which in the beginning of its develop- 
ment is a rudimentary form or seed produced 
according to the same principles that a plant 
seed is. There is the spiritual part in the animal 
seed, which clothes itself with a correlative mate- 
rial form from the ovimi. The forces of animal 
life acting upon and within the spiritual part, 
which is a series of degrees coincident with cor- 
responding ones in the spiritual world, unfold 
the spiritual part when the material part is rightly 
conditioned, and cause it to clothe itself from 
nature. The soul, having woven for itself out 
of nature's substances a body that invests it, 
subsequently repairs and vivifies it, and endows 
it with its own endeavors. 

Both plant life and animal life vary in quality, 
thereby giving rise to different kinds of plants 
and animals. The interior life fashions from 
spiritual substances a structure for its indwelling 
that is the representative and outbirth of it and 
in Correspondence with it. Likewise the soul 
clothes itself with a corresponding body. The 
principles of their formation are the same as 
those that shape the human face to correspond 
to the states of the mind whereby the wise 
appear intelligent, the cultured show refinement, 

276 



ORGANISM OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



and those who are ignorant or Hve in squalor 
are the forms of coarseness, stupidity, and 
suffering. That is to say, Hfe-forces and the 
soul construct the material form in which they 
dwell in Correspondence with themselves. 

We have considered first the production and 
vivification of forms since the creation of the 
first forms, that the principles of their formation 
and sustenance might prepare the way for the 
enunciation of the laws governing the creation 
of the first living forms. 



277 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS. 



Essentials For The Creation Of First Living 
Forms. 

The discussion of so great a subject as the 
creation of the first living forms reqtiires an 
extensive premise, for both what was prior thereto 
and the universal laws of creation are involved. 
All of the principles stated in the foregoing 
chapters are essential in the introduction of 
the subject. However, the general principles 
upon which the law of creation rests may be 
here summarized, which are these: the existence 
of a Divine Human Person as the Creator and 
the First Cause; the existence of a spiritual 
world and a natural world related as soul and 
body ; the universe constituted of discrete degrees 
arranged in successive order descending from 
the substance of vital action in the Creator to 
the passive rock; the efflux of vital energy from 
the Creator, and its reception and communication 
by Correspondence to the different degrees; 
the universe a reproduction of the form of the 

278 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



Creator, and man a reproduction of the form of 
the universe, whereby the Creator, the universe, 
and man are similar in form. These having 
been elaborated as fully as the purpose seems 
to necessitate, it remains now to consider how, 
through such a constituted order, the first living 
forms were produced. 

The Laws Of Creation Are Now Active On 
The Planes Of Organized Living Forms. 

As the operations of the laws of creation have 
ever been the same, and must be alike in prin- 
ciple in every form, they will be found fully and 
universally illustrated by their presence and 
operation in man. To observe the principles 
according to which the first living forms were 
brought forth, it will be necessary to trace the 
creative force from its first origin, and to notice 
the principle of its operation in some particulars. 

It has been observed that the Creator fills 
the spiritual atmospheres about Him with His 
own life as the sun charges the atmospheres in 
nature with its potencies. The life-forces in the 
Creator going forth from Him must imbue the 
atmospheres about Him with the endeavor to 
produce His form. That is, every least part of 
spiritual substance, being charged with His 
life, must be as to its nature a rudimentary 

279 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

image of Him, having as its essential nature 
love, wisdom, and use, the same as the particles 
of ether vivified by the sun are images of it, 
since they, like the sun, yield heat, light, and 
power. Love, or the life-force in the Creator, 
proceeds from Him, forming every atom of the 
spiritual atmosphere near Him into an image 
and likeness of Himself . through the reception 
of something of His vital action and nature. 
The spiritual atmospheres, thus charged with 
potencies, become the creative forces, which, 
since they receive endeavor from the Creator, 
must likewise be pregnant with the endeavor 
to reproduce His form as perfectly as the degree 
of the substance in which they act will permit. 
These substances operating in the human soul 
are its life, yielding there its stored potencies 
of affection, thought and act. The substances 
proper to the soul, of which its affection and 
thought are predicated, in turn are charged with 
endeavor similar to that of the creative force; 
and their minutest particles become, in their 
degree, images of the Creator, through communi- 
cated potencies, with a like endeavor to reproduce 
His image. The substance of affection and 
thought, whose activity is still to be thought 
of as creative force, operating in the purest fluid 
of the brain, likewise communicates to this highest 

280 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



fluid of the body its energies, causing its particles 
to become images of the Creator by receiving 
something of His nature. These material particles 
are, therefore, clothings to corresponding spiritual 
ones which are imbued with life from the Creator, 
and consequently they are full of the endeavor 
to produce His image, which is the human form. 
Thus when the substance of affection and thought 
is so shaped and formed in the brain and carried 
on to ultimates through the organism of the 
body and deposited in the seminal vessels, there 
are formed from it perfected seeds capable of 
producing human beings, when suitable material 
and conditions are provided. 

As plant life flows through the tree into the 
seed, terminating there and making it a recep- 
tacle of plant life and thus a rudimentary plant, 
which has been explained in detail, so human 
life, flowing through the human organism, termi- 
nates in the seed and makes it a receptacle of 
human life and a rudimentary human form. 
The human seed, like every other, is the ultimate 
form in which its characteristic life terminates 
and abides. Its forces are in the constant endeavor 
to unfold their full correspondential form, which 
they do when the necessary conditions are pro- 
vided. 

In the formation of the human seed the soul part 

28l 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



is formed from the spiritual world by the father's 
soul, or that part of the paternal human structure 
that coincides with the spiritual world (Diagram 
IV, page 312). The body part is organized by 
the mother's body, or that part of the parent 
which coincides with nature. The soul-germ 
from the father is materially clothed by the 
seminal fluid, in which it takes on a species of 
body. It is then conveyed to the ovum by the 
seminal fltiid, where it casts off the material 
clothing, and from its affinity for a body takes 
on the germinal body in the ovum from the 
mother. 

All things proceed in the order of end, cause, 
and effect; that is all things come forth to an 
end or purpose. The end is use. The end pro- 
ceeds by cause to effects in ultimates, when what 
is first becomes the last. The end of plant life 
is use. Its endeavor is to effect use, the use of 
supplying the needs of animals and of man. 
The end or use proceeds by causes, which the 
spiritual world is, to effects, which the natural 
world is, and produces a tree which was the end, 
but when produced is the last. End, cause, 
and effect continue likewise in the tree. End or 
use proceeding in the spiritual counterpart of 
the tree as the cause, to the material tree as the 
ultimate, produces fruit or seed for human use, 

282 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



whereby the end or use becomes the last in the 
fruit or seed. The same law applies to the creation 
of man. The end in the creation of the earth is 
the creation of the human race. The end pro- 
ceeded by the spiritual world as cause, and formed 
the earth as an effect, and the end becomes the 
last in the creation of man. The same law 
operates in man when created. The end in creat- 
ing man upon the earth is the procreation of the 
human race, for this can take place only in 
ultima tes. The end, the procreation of the 
human race, proceeding by the soul as a cause, 
to the body as an effect or ultimate, produces 
human seed for procreation, whereby the end 
becomes the last. Such is the law and nature 
of creative powers perpetually proceeding from 
the Creator. 

The First Living Forms Were Created By The 
Laws That Are Still Operative. 

With the foregoing conception of the constitu- 
tion of organized forms and of the operation 
of creative forces the way is prepared to state 
that the first living forms were created just as 
all subsequent forms have been, with only this 
difference, that whereas now the spiritual part 
is formed by the Creator through the degrees 
of the soul, and the material part through the 

283 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



degrees of the body, in the original creation 
the degrees of the spiritual world were used in- 
stead of the degrees of an individual parental 
soul, and the degrees of nature were used instead 
of the degrees of an individual parental body. 
This was possible because the universe is the 
human form as to the arrangement of its degrees, 
the spiritual world being coincident with the 
soul, and the natural world with the body. Other- 
wise it never would have been said, that "God is 
able of these stones to raise up children unto 
Abraham. " 

Since the laws of creation have ever been the 
same in principle and are those very laws which 
now create, their present operation in the human 
form, which is the highest organization, illus- 
trates their processes in all time. As affection 
or love, which is the life-power and creative 
force in man, operates in his structure composed 
of soul and body, forming a soul-germ, or a 
perfected seed whereby a human being is created ; 
so love, or the creative force from the Creator, 
formed by means of the spiritual and natural 
worlds the seeds of every living thing, and under 
suitable conditions unfolded them to a state of 
self -sustenance and self -perpetuation. 

The importance of this point may justify its 
repetition in this form. Since the forces of the 

284 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



universe are derived from the Creator as the 
forces of the body are derived from the soul, the 
Creator is, as it were, the soul of the universe, 
and from Him were created through the spiritual 
world the first seeds as the soul now forms them 
in the body. Therefore in a most complete sense 
the first forms were brought forth from their 
respective seeds as they now are, except that 
where now the Creator uses the already constituted 
organisms of plants, animals, and man, which 
are formed, as has been shown, to respond to 
creative forces. He used the degrees of the spiritual 
and the natural world analogous to those of the 
existing organisms, and the favorable conditions 
of adapted nature. The primitive earth was 
specially adapted to such creation by tropical 
climate and exuberant vegetation, of which 
there is conclusive evidence and popular knowl- 
edge. Primitive man was created by the universal 
laws of Correspondence, the laws of the relation 
of the spiritual world to the natural world, where- 
by when man was created the conditions of 
nature were perfectly adapted to the sustenance 
of primitive man. We must not overlook the 
fact that artificial conditions and different modes 
of living have led man far away from primeval 
requirements. 

The conditions in nature having changed, 
285 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the period of physical development is extended 
over a considerable space of time, but in the 
original creation, the seed having been first 
formed, developm.ent proceeded more immediately 
to that fulness essential to self- sustenance, 
which in no case necessarily required a further 
development at birth than is yet common with 
some animals. 

Since the creative forces are from the Creator, 
who, being infinite and eternal, is unchangeable, 
they are constant in their efforts to bring forth. 
His vital action still makes every particle of the 
spiritual atmosphere an image of Himself by 
imparting to it His nature in a degree, and by fill- 
ing it with His own energy to create. This 
creating endeavor, constantly proceeding from 
Him, finds nature responsive in seeds and in 
organized bodies, and thus perpetually clothes 
itself through existing plants and animals, and 
forms their offspring. The constancy of the 
creative forces and their perpetual endeavor to 
shape matter in correspondential forms is exem- 
plified in the crystallization of minerals, in the 
plant-like disposition of the frost upon the win- 
dows, and in the arborescent forms in dendrite. 

The Creator, being a Divine Himian Person, 
as has been shown in a previous chapter, and 
thence having the faculty of volition and direc- 

286 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



tion, by Divine volition and direction, when nature 
was passing through the successive stages of 
adaptation to serve His will, clothed the spiritual 
seed-forms with matter, and unfolded them into 
living bodies, whereby the spiritual forms, being 
clothed with matter, became fixed and permanent 
in nature, if suitably provisioned. 

Spontaneous Creation. 

Though the creative laws are ever the same, 
and the creative force is perpetually active, 
such original creation does not now take place 
as formerly, because the natural conditions of 
the earth necessary for the creation of its first 
forms have passed away. The conditions necessary 
for the creation of living forms is transferred 
to the matrix, where the requisite conditions 
are preserved, and there the same laws of creation 
are active. Nature has now passed beyond the 
period of adaptation to the original creation 
of higher animal forms. Yet as the creative 
forces are ever operative in existing forms, and 
continue to produce crystallization and florescence 
in unorganized matter, conditions may still 
exist in which the creation of the simpler forms 
of life may take place. In other words, creative 
forces still find nature in a limited degree adapted 
to clothe them with matter, and so they may 

287 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



yet form living things of a very low degree of 
life. This is spontaneous creation. 

If the chemist is able to produce living forms 
in sterilized gelatine, or by other methods, it 
should meet with no surprise. The influx of 
creative power that flows down and terminates 
in gross matter, and whose endeavor produces 
moss in crystals, plant forms on the window, 
and the like, is ever3rwhere constant and active. 
If the chemist can produce matter of a suitable 
character to respond to that creative force, 
it must clothe itself in as high a form of life as the 
conditions will permit. The fact does not indicate 
that creative power is inherent in matter. It 
proves the presence and activity of creative 
power in ultimates and the fact of spontaneous 
generation. But beyond providing the condi- 
tions for the manifestation of the omnipresent 
creative force, the scientist can never go. The 
end is the endeavor to produce uses; the cause 
is the law of endeavor's action, and the effect is 
the result. End, cause, and effect as three 
discrete degrees are actually present in every 
single thing by virtue of its form; hence every 
thing retains in itself an endeavor to produce 
uses. An interesting field of experimentation 
is open to the chemist to ascertain what, under 
favorable conditions, this endeavor will produce. 

288 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



Divine Volition Is Not Contrary To Natural 
Law. 

A proper conception of the Creator and of 
His relation to laws and forces reveals that there 
is no change in the laws of creation, or infraction 
of constituted order, in the exercise of volition 
and direction. Divine Love in the Creator forms 
the Divine Will, from which is all force. The 
laws of the universe are simply the way that the 
Divine Will proceeds. Laws are unchangeable 
and forces constant because the Divine Will is 
Infinite, Eternal, and Omnipotent. It is most 
important to make this distinction, that laws 
are not constant because the Creator from whom 
they exist is like a great machine that being 
wound up must go just so, but for the reason 
that He, being Infinite, Eternal, and Omnipotent, 
can not change. Neither God nor His laws have 
changed or can change, but rather the conditions 
of nature in which they work. That change can 
not be predicated of one having the element 
of infinitude is mathematically discerned. Since 
the universe derives its laws and forces from 
the Creator in whom is Will and Understanding, 
the creation of first forms by Divine volition 
and direction was not an infraction of laws or 
disturbance of forces, but simply, the direction 
19 289 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



and concentration of existing forces according 
to law into external and natural conditions of 
matter. Such Divine volition and direction is 
no more a violation of the laws of the universe 
or of the nature of the Creator than the exercise 
of volition on the part of man is a violation of 
the laws of nature or of man's being. Nor have 
the laws of creation in any way changed, but the 
condition of nature having changed, the favorable 
field of their operation is found generally in organ- 
ized forms rather than in the earth itself ; and yet 
in thinking of the Creator as having will and 
understanding, they must not be thought of as 
two separate things as in man, but as a unit. 
Infinite will and understanding become one 
thing, which is life, the constant, unchanging 
endeavor of love itself, in which all things of 
orderly creation have ever existed initially. 
It is important to give the Divine will and under- 
standing the attribute of infinity. 

Variety Of Forms Originates In The Infinite 
Potencies Of The Divine. 

The creation of all forms by the same laws 
and from the same primary source of force, does 
not prevent variety. Variety arises from the 
infinite potencies that are in creative force, and 
that can therefore unfold out of it, and from the 

290 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



varying external conditions in which it operates. 
This is illustrated by the various potencies, 
traits, or essentials that are comprehended in 
the human life-force in there being no two persons 
exactly alike in features or character: nor can 
there be to eternity, for the conditions of parent- 
age, gestation, birth, and subsequent education 
and experience could not be twice alike in even 
one particular. Creative force not only includes 
in it infinite varieties upon one plane, but as it 
descends through the successively lower planes 
of the universe, varieties in degree occur; hence 
there are varieties in character and also in degree 
or height of development, as are found in the 
classes of plants, animals, and men. 

The Order Of Creation Was That Of Use, 
Which Is Reflected In Both The 
Human And The Divine 
Form. 

The earth at first not being in a condition to 
respond immediately to creative force in its higher 
tendencies, the activities in only the lower degrees 
of the spiritual world could find a basis suitable 
to the organization of matter into bodies. But 
so far as nature could, it did respond to creative 
forces, and through the creation of the lowest 
forms there was preparation for the higher. As 

291 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the earth passed into conditions more serviceable 
to the higher tendencies of creative force, the 
superior forms were successively brought forth. 

The infinite potencies in the Creator have a 
certain order in Him. This order is one of use. 
It is illustrated by the faculties in man, who is 
the Creator's image and likeness, wherein the 
hearing serves the eye, and the eye the intellect, 
and the faculty of understanding serves the 
affections. Potencies from the Creator descending 
into the spiritual world form it into a series of 
uses whereby the lower forces serve the higher, 
thus forming a spiritual kingdom of uses. These 
spiritual forces become incorporated in nature, 
and form it into a natural kingdom of uses, 
wherein the lower serve the higher ; as attraction, 
osmosis, and capillarity aid the force that con- 
structs the plant or the animal body; or as the 
heat and light of the sun aid in chemical changes ; 
or as the earth serves plant life, and plant life 
serves animals, and animals serve man, and 
developed man serves the Creator, whose essential 
life is " not to be ministered unto but to minister. " 
Consequently the ascending scale of created 
forms is due to the general design of use, and they 
were brought forth as the earth ascended in its 
state of adaptability and preparation, which 
preparation the law of use itself wrought. 

292 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



The Internal Force Develops The External 
Body Into A Form In Correspondence 
With Itself. 

Every human being is the incarnation of some 
particular force, tendency, or character. It is 
that which makes him, shapes him, moves him, 
and animates him. Likewise every plant and 
animal is the embodiment of an individual, 
spiritual force that originally made them, that 
shapes them, that gives them quality, and that 
animates them. In the creation of first forms, 
the individual force impressed its own form upon 
spiritual substance, as it must have, and shaped 
it into a unit suitable to contain it. This spiritual 
form, becoming properly clothed with matter, 
constituted the seed that contained the potency 
and nature of the individual force. As a seed 
it was a form corresponding to the force within, 
of which it was the rudimentary outbirth. The 
continuance of the individual force unfolded the 
seed to a developed form in full Correspondence 
with its activity and nature. 

All Things Were Created Through The Law 
Of Correspondence, Whereby Each Is, 
In a Degree, An Image Of The 
Others And Of The Creator. 

Let us observe in this connection more partic- 
ularly what is to be understood by Correspond- 

293 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CRZATIOX 



ence, or correspondential forms. All forces 
are a imit in the Creator. As they first proceed 
from Him their effort is to produce His image 
and likeness in the highest degree. Man, being 
the highest form, must f^ally reflect His image 
and likeness. As the creative force descends 
the degrees, it becomes less full, and though 
ever reproducing His image, it dc^es so with less 
perfection. The creative force finally operating 
on the planes from which plants are produced, 
His image is still preser^'ed. Consequentl}' both 
the plant and man are forms in Correspondence 
with the force within. It necessarily follows 
that man and the plant are formed by the same 
force, the forces in the higher degrees form man, 
and in the lower only a plant. The force that 
produces the plant is the same htiman force that 
makes a ma.n, only it is not operative on so high 
planes and with such fulness. It results that 
the plants and man have a co mm on likeness, 
since they are formed by the same force operating 
in difierent degrees, and no force can build other 
than a form in Correspondence with its own 
nature and activity. 

The analogy between a tree and man suggests 
their Correspondence. First it may be observed 
that the tree has wood, bark, and sap, as man has 
fiesh. skin, and blood. The full Correspondence 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



may be observed in considering the forces that 
form them. It may seem at first like a far-fetched 
statement, yet it is true, that the force that in 
man produces successively sensual, scientific, 
rational, and spiritual truths, and by these love, 
operating in the plant seed brings forth respec- 
tively roots, branches, leaves, flowers, and lastly 
fruits. The Correspondence in man and plants 
originates in the fact that the life that forms 
man and is called human life descends to the 
plane of vegetation, and there operates upon 
the same pattern, and forms a plant that is a 
likeness of the human form. The relations exist- 
ing between the roots, branches, leaves, flowers, 
and fruits are in all ways like those between 
sensual, scientific, rational, and spiritual truths 
and love. The tree is built upon its roots; its 
roots are grounded in the lowest things of nature, 
and from the roots are put forth branches; by 
these, leaves; by means of branches and leaves, 
flowers are formed; and by means of these, 
fruits are brought forth. Likewise man is built 
upon sensual truths of the earthly mind; they 
are the foundation of the superstructure of higher 
truths. By means of sensual truths scientific 
truths are obtained; by means of these, rational 
truths; by means of these, spiritual truths; and 
by means of these. Divine love is brought forth 

295 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



in man, which is the fruit of his life. So true is 
this that as we say a tree that bears olives is a 
tree of olives, it may be said that man is a tree 
of life or of love. Keeping the law of the Lord 
brings forth His love, for which man is created. 
Of those who delight in His law it is said, "He 
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of 
water. " 

Again, life-force operates in man forming seeds 
whereby his kind is reproduced. In a similar 
way it forms seeds in plants for the reproduc- 
tion of their kind. Because the life-force that 
flows from the Creator, and produces in man 
human love and seeds for reproduction, descends 
and produces fruits and seeds in the vegetable 
kingdom, it is said that there is Correspondence 
between man and plants. Because it is the same 
life-force, and since the creative or life-force is 
received by man in the highest degree, and thence 
descends forming all other things, there is Corre- 
spondence between man and every created thing. 
The life-force can not do other than produce in 
each thing formed an image of the Creator in a 
greater or less degree, and consequently every 
created thing is more or less an image of every 
other, and of the Creator, all being sustained 
by one current of life dividing into many streams. 
It is this relation existing between the Creator 

296 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



and the created that makes it true that "The 
invisible things of Him from the creation of the 
v/orld are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made, even His eternal power 
and Godhead. " 

The doctrine of creation according to Corre- 
spondence, therefore holds that the first forms 
were produced by the Creator, who by influx 
from Himself impressed His image and like- 
ness upon the substances of the spiritual world 
according to their nature and degree, forming 
seeds, w^hich, through the adaptation of nature 
and by Divine thought and volition, became 
clothed directly from matter in forms in Corre- 
spondence with the interior forces. These seeds 
were immediately developed into living forms 
and to a self-sustaining degree; and through 
the continued reception of creative force, those 
living forms have perpetuated their kind. The 
material body became, as it ever is, the corre- 
spondential outbirth of the form within; and 
the form within, being shaped by forces from 
the Creator, took its organization from the 
endeavor of spiritual forces to reproduce His 
image, which image all things do in a degree 
present, as the universal unity of plan demon- 
strates. Consequently the form within reflects 
that kingdom of uses in the Creator, which the 

297 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



mtitual service of the members or parts of every 
organized body exhibits. 

A material body is produced in Correspondence 
with the force within according to the same 
law that ignorance shapes the human face into 
the foiTTL of stupidity; that wisdom shapes it 
into an expression of intelligence; that gentle- 
ness shapes it into an expression of modesty; 
that the spirit of savagery shapes it into an image 
of fierceness and brutahty or that will-force 
swells and knots the muscles. Each existing 
form, be it rock, plant, animal, or man, is a form 
made by the forces within producing their corre- 
spondential image. The grace of the palm and 
strength of the oak are in Correspondence ^ith 
the plant life that forms them; and the endeavor 
in that life continues into every particular, shap- 
ing the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits alike 
in perfect Correspondence with itself. The canine 
teeth and the claws of the tiger are in Correspond- 
ence T\'ith the quahty of its ferocit}'. The venom, 
the forked tongue, and the stealth of the serpent 
are in Correspondence with the guile and treacher- 
ous life within. The soft external of the hare 
and its defenseless but agile body are in Corre- 
spondence with the sensitiveness or timidity 
of the hfe that forms it. Or, in general, the domi- 
nant things in objects, as innocence in the lamb, 

298 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



cunning in the fox, selfishness in the hog, are 
dominant in the forces on the spiritual plane 
that produce their correspondential forms. So 
every detail in nature is as an expression upon 
the face that is in Correspondence with the feel- 
ings that form it, a faithful symbol of the power 
within. The assimilation in animals whereby 
they resemble their surroundings, as the white 
bear in the arctic region, is due to this law of 
Correspondence being carried to the outward 
color. The jaguar resembling the tree flecked 
with the shadow of leaves; the vertical stripes 
of the tiger, suggesting the stalks and shadows 
of plants; the assimilation in moths, and the 
like, are other examples explicable by the law of 
Correspondence. This law always works harmony 
of color, and prevents such a thing as the inhar- 
monious ever occurring in uninterrupted nature. 

Reproduction Is From The Constancy Of The 
Creative Force. 

Each living form is a recipient and containant 
of the force within in its individual complete- 
ness. The particular creative force completes 
its form and unfolds its nature in its recipient 
perpetually, as it is a constant and perpetually 
acting force. This process results in the production 
of similar rudimentary forms or seeds, whereby 

299 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



there is the faculty of reproduction. Repro- 
duction is not therefore from germs transmitted 
from ancient ancestors, nor from the division 
of cells, though the latter accompany repro- 
duction, but from the perpetual activity of 
the creative force shaping substance into corre- 
spondential forms. Reproduction is perpetual 
creation, and the natural universe is a theater 
representing the spiritual world and the Divine 
Government. 

The Possibilities Of A Form Are Fixed And 
Determined By The Potencies 
In The Seed. 

The seed has within it the rudimentary essen- 
tials of aU that tmfolds out of it. Because the 
initial form is potentially in the seed, it is a seed. 
As every plant and animal is first formed poten- 
tially in the seed, the subsequent process of 
groT\i:h is development. In the first instance 
the seed or rudimentar}^ form of man, being 
created, was developed immediately to a state 
v^'hich enabled man to sustain himself from nature, 
then highly adapted to his nourishment. He could 
not have been developed into a rational being 
instantaneously, for the development of the 
human mind requires the free use of the will 
and imderstanding. But he could, without the 

300 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



violation of the htiman essentials of freedom of 
choice and responsibility, be developed physically 
to a state equal to that of animals that are capable 
of self-support at birth. At creation only the 
animal part of his nature could have been devel- 
oped by the Creator, for the himian or rational 
part must be developed by self-action, since only 
what is self-developed can be human as distin- 
guished from animal. Yet he had within him all 
the faculties and possibilities that he now has, 
just as the acorn has within it potentially an oak. 
The advancement of man through the unfolding 
of his faculties is neither creation nor evolution, 
but development; development of faculties given 
in creation, existing potentially in the seed, 
and manifested in the continual progress of 
humanity. 

That first forms were created in the seed and 
then developed is conclusive from the fact that 
such an order the laws of creation, which are 
unchangeable, how impose. Nor is there any 
known instance where • potencies not initially in 
the seed were subsequently developed. The 
potencies in the seed fix the species, and deter- 
mine its limits in development. The plant seed 
receives the current of life from that which flows 
through the parent plant, and the animal seed 
receives the current of life that flows through 

301 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the parent animal, until the seeds become respec- 
tively receptacles of these forces: but when 
the seeds are perfected, or when the animal is 
born, they no longer receive life through the 
parent, but being themselves like their parents, 
though rudimentary in form, are weaned, and 
then they receive life from the general sphere, 
as do their parents. 

The parent can receive only its own kind of 
life, because the admissibility of life-force de- 
pends upon the specific form of organization, 
consequently only seed of its own kind can be 
produced. Search wherever we will, among 
plants or animals, there will be found no evi- 
dence contradicting the general law illustrated 
by the fruit tree yielding fruit after his 
kind." 

Since reproduction takes place according to 
such principles, and first forms were created 
in the seed that was a form in Correspondence 
with the creative force within, it may be concluded 
that Evolution, its modified presentations, and 
the adding of superior parts to a lower form are 
theories wholly without the facts necessary to 
credence. It m_ay also be seen how fundamentally 
and internally the laws of the universe forbid 
the remotest possibility of any such occurrences, 
and that any adaptation of the theory of Evolu- 

302 



CREATION OF FIRST LIVING FORMS 



tion must necessarily negate the whole of the 
laws of Correspondence. The law of Corre- 
spondence shows how "The Lord God formed 
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into 
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became 
a living soul.'* 



303 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE KINGDOM OF USES. 



The Natural World Will Endure Forever. 

From a superficial view of nature it may seem 
that her operations point to its final destruction; 
for plants, animals, and men die, and even the 
rocks disintegrate. Yet what seems to suggest 
the temporal, when more interiorly considered, 
really illustrates the permanency and eternity 
of creation. 

That the age of mollusks, of fishes, of coal, 
of reptiles, of mammals as distinctive periods 
have come to an end, is true; yet their uses are 
perpetuated. Vast strata of plant and animal 
deposit are not now repeatedly and quickly 
elevated above the sea and again submerged to 
form the basis of vegetation, and the periods 
specially adapted to the making of matter suit- 
able for vegetable and animal life are come to 
an end, yet their uses endure in providing ani- 
mal and vegetable material as a perpetual basis 

304 



THE KINGDOM OF USES 



of life. Though ages have past, their uses are all 
present and enduring. 

Plants reach their limit of age, and decay, 
yet their uses are perpetuated; and plant life, 
through the production of seed, does not perish. 
Likewise animals die; but, through the pro- 
duction of seed, their kind is reproduced, and 
their uses are permanent. The crumbling material 
forms do not argue the final destruction of 
creation, but, when interiorly viewed, they reveal 
that nature is the outer plane where creative 
forces, which are eternal, form and reform, 
preserving and perpetuating use. 

Looking merely upon the outward appearance, 
it has been concluded that as the lower material 
forms, plants and animals, perish, as ages change, 
seas shift, and mountains are levelled, nature 
herself must come to an end, the sun burn out, 
and the universe be dissolved; but the very 
things from which such deductions are drawn, 
if the sight penetrates to their uses, show that 
the earth is permanent, that the sun can not fail, 
and that the universe is eternal. For since the 
uses to the earth of lesser things, like plants in 
providing alluvium, do not perish, the uses of 
the earth to the plant that are so much more 
vast and prior must be equally permanent. 
And if the uses of the earth to the plant are per- 
20 305 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



manent, must not the uses of the sun to the 
earth that are still greater and prior be equally 
lasting? The use of providing creative forces 
with material to be formed and reformed per- 
petually into bodies, can not be less enduring 
than the creative forces, which all concede are 
eternal. As uses rule over all, and are constant 
in nature, what seems to suggest final destruction 
in reality confirms the opposite. This appears 
with the greatest clearness when the relation 
that man and nature bear to each other is 
observed. 

The human body draws for its structure and 
sustenance from all the degrees in nature. It is 
an organization in correlation with nature. Man 
feels nature's objects, tastes its substances, 
smells its odors, hears and breathes in its air, 
sees by its ether, and is nourished by its products. 
Thus nature responds to the needs of the body. 
Still more extensively is nature adapted to his 
mind. In response to his desires her laws yield 
him the sciences, and instruct him in art. She 
provides him material and conditions that he 
may realize his endeavors in his work. As he 
advances and needs new power, secret forces 
are found to serve the new demand. Indeed, 
nature is observed to be a vast reservoir of forces 
satisfying all his demands upon her. She is a 

306 



THE KINGDOM OF USEvS 



form of uses matching the form of his desires; 
she is a greater world, the embodiment, as it 
were, of his own mind. So fully does nature 
serve him that she may be regarded as the world 
of his mind materialized, and, through the things 
thereby embodied, made responsive by her uses 
to all his natural desires. This is to say that 
use to man is the chief purpose of nature. Each 
successive step in its formation was a preparation 
for man. He has dominion over the earth, plants, 
animals, and the forces in nature, and subjects 
them to his use. So fully do all things center in 
him and contribute to his existence and develop- 
ment that he comes as the purpose of all that 
went before. He is as the fruit on the end of 
the branch, the final purpose of the tree into 
which it pours its life, and for which it surrenders 
itself. Then, since man is the end for which 
creation exists, the first and highest use of crea- 
tion, it is conclusive that he is as enduring as the 
universe itself, or as the highest use. 

Man By His Creation Becomes Immortal. 

Not only is man in touch with nature at all 
points through the material that nature furnishes 
for his natural structure, through the Correspond- 
ence with nature by means of the bodily senses, 
and through the science and art that respond 

307 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

to his opening mind, and that form it, but also 
he is in Correspondence with the spiritual world, 
the realm of his spirit. In response to his desire 
for knowledge of right, justice, truth, and spirit- 
uality, light is given. From his desires for im- 
mortality he is given an inward intelligence 
that convinces him of an eternal, spiritual world. 
His internal longings for the perfect, the omnip- 
otent, the infinite love that is human yet Divine, 
meets response in the perception of the existence 
of God and the reception of His life. To the 
cry of his whole being, natural and spiritual, 
the universe answers back. It serves him per- 
fectly. It is his full use. So complete is the use 
of the universe to man, so accurately mated to 
her uses are his desires and faculties that it is 
evident that he is unfolded out of the universe; 
that he, conceived of God in the womb of the 
universe, is her child into whom she has gathered 
as an heritage and to whom she has bequeathed 
as her offspring the germs of all her potencies 
and possibilities. This is not to say that the 
universe of herself evolved man, but that the 
Creator through the universe caused her to bear 
a child that should nurse all her powers, and to 
which she should be from the Creator the child's 
responding use. Therefore when it is perceived 
that uses rule, that man is the first and highest 

308 



THE KINGDOM OF USES 



use of creation, that his production is the essential 
end in the First Cause, it is conclusive that he is 
as enduring as the First Cause, the Creator, from 
whom he sprang, which is to say that man by 
creation becomes immortal. 

The use that preserves man must also perpetuate 
the earth upon which he rests, and also the sun, 
without which there could be no life. Use 
reveals the purpose of Him Who laid the founda- 
tions of the earth, that it should not be removed 
forever." Whatsoever may be the appearance 
due to the temporal character of material forms, 
their uses, together with the whole force of the 
universal intelligence that unites all in a single 
design, effecting a sole and final use to mankind, 
confirm the stability of the universe and the 
immortality of man. "For thus saith the Lord 
that created the heavens; God Himself that 
formed the earth and made it; He hath estab- 
lished it, He created it not in vain, He formed it 
to be inhabited. " "The earth abideth forever. " 



309 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE HUMAN FORM AND THE DESTINY OF MAN. 



The Particular Constitution Of The Human 
Form And Its Relation To Creation 
Show That Man Is Created 
To Live Forever. 

The form of man with clearness and certainty 
points tov^ard his purpose and destiny. His 
constitution, when observed in its orderly arrange- 
ment, satisfactorily argues through its rational 
design the immortality of man. The design of 
use is so permeating and controlling in him 
that the rational thought can not permit his pur- 
pose to fail ; nor can it conceive how, consistently 
with the intelligence displayed in his formation, 
he can ever be severed from the law of use that 
created him. 

We are now to notice in detail the degrees in 
the human constitution and their relation, from 
which man's position in creation may more fully 
appear, as well as the purpose of his existence, 
the laws of his well being, an^lr reasons for his 
immortality. To make definite the ideas to be 

310 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



presented, and to bring at once before the eye 
the human form in its degrees and divisions, 
Diagram IV is introduced. 

The Three Degrees Of The Natural Body. 

Diagram IV represents a complete general out- 
line of the Human Form and its relation to the 
Creator. Its likeness to previous diagrams will 
be observed. It differs in embracing more sub- 
divisions, that all the degrees may be seen in 
their successive order. 

To present the subject in a complete form, a 
brief description of each part of the diagram 
will here be given, even though it necessitates 
some repetition. 

The natural body contains three distinct planes 
or degrees: the Natural- Corporeal, the Natural- 
Sensual, and the Limbus, represented respectively 
by 1, k, and j. All that part of the body below 
the brain and its ramification of nerves, as the 
heart, lungs, membranes, blood, or in general the 
flesh and bones, constitutes the Natural- Corporeal. 
The flesh and bones constitute a form that has 
a kind of life in itself and of its own, due to its 
receiving life and appropriating it according to 
its organism and degree. This life, by which 
the part of the body composed of bones and flesh 
assimilates nutrition, forms, and repairs itself, 

311 



Diagram IV 



r 



£ 

O 



3 




Inmost 



The 
Spiritual or 
Internal 
Mind 




X 



0; 
AH 



c 

£ 



The 
Natural 
or 4 
External 

Mind 



The , 
Spiritual 
Body 



Celestial 
>Spiritual 



^Spiritual— 
Natural 



-^-r^Rational 



__;-::^Scientific 



ft 

ft 

a 

f 

3 

I 

ft 




Spiritual - 
^Sensual 

Spiritual— 

Corporeal 

Limbus 
Natural-Sensual 



Natural-Corporeal 



312 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



is called Natural-Corporeal life. This kind of 
life is common also to the lowest structure of 
the brain and nerves. 

In this part, the Natural-Corporeal, are set the 
organs of the senses of the body, the organs of 
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. The 
senses are functions of an organism higher than 
that of the flesh and the bones, having life also 
of a superior order. The senses of the body 
constitute the Natural-Sensual. The distinc- 
tion between the Natural- Corporeal and the 
Natural-Sensual is clearly defined, the life of 
the Natural- Corporeal being insensate, while that 
of the Natural- Sensual is sensate. For illustra- 
tion, the ear is as to its bones, flesh, and blood of 
the Natural-Corporeal degree, but as to that inner 
and higher material and form, or plane of it that 
gifts it with the sense of hearing in nature, it is of 
the Natural-Sensual degree. The same may be 
said of the eye with regard to seeing, of the 
hand with respect to feeling, or of any sensorial 
part of the body with reference to its form of 
sensation. The Natural-Corporeal constitutes a 
vestment to the Natural-Sensual and an instru- 
ment of its outward action. 

The purest substance in the brain and nerves, 
since it is the highest form of matter in the natural 
body, and lies next below the spiritual part of 

313 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



man, is properly called the Limbus or ''border.'* 
It is that in the material body which is immediately 
responsive to the spiritual substance of which 
affection and thought are predicated, and which 
therefore constitutes their first covering in the 
body. The Limbus is the mind's first servant in 
the body, and might be designated as the mate- 
rial part of the mind, since it acts so closely 
with it. It is that in the body wherein affec- 
tions, thoughts, and all experiences are regis- 
tered. It is within the brain and nerves, and 
is their highest and purest fluid. 

The Two Degrees Of The Spiritual Body. 

Since the spiritual body serves the mind within 
it as the natural body does the soul, whereby the 
mind has a covering and instrument of action 
in the spiritual world, it must necessarily have 
a degree of life that vitalizes its lower parts, 
repairs them, and makes them a habitation for 
the mind. Therefore that degree in the spiritual 
body which is analogous to the Corporeal degree 
in the Natural Body is the Spiritual-Corporeal, i, 
and its vital force is Spiritual-Corporeal life. 

That man may sensate spiritual things, and as 
a spiritual being see, hear, smell, taste, and feel 
in the spiritual world, the spiritual body must 
have organs of these senses set in it that are in 

314 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



communication with the spiritual world as the 
senses of the material body are with the natural 
world. This plane of the Spiritual Body is the 
Spiritual- Sensual, h. The Spiritual-Sensual and 
the Spiritual-Corporeal bear the same relation 
to each other and to the spiritual world as the 
Natural-Sensual and the Natural-Corporeal do 
to each other and to the natural world. 

The spiritual senses are set in the spiritual body 
as the natural senses are set in the natural body. 
The life which forms, fills and operates them is 
the Spiritual-Sensual degree of life. Spiritual 
senses could no more exist without a body in 
which they are set than could the natural senses 
without a natural body; nor could it be any 
more possible for a spiritual being to exist as a 
conscious person without spiritual senses and a 
spiritual body, than for a natural being to exist 
without natural organs of sense and a natural 
body. The corporeal and sensual degrees of the 
natural body derive their form and life from the 
analogous degrees of the spiritual body, with 
which they are in Correspondence. 

The Three Degrees Of The Natural Mind. 

The mind sees, hears, smells, tastes, and feels 
through the senses. In the exercise of these 
senses knowledge of their correct use is obtained. 

315 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



This knowledge, belonging not to the organs of 
sense, but to the mind, constitutes the Sensual 
plane, g, of the Natural or External Mind. The 
first few years of the infant's Hfe is largely devoted 
to the development of this plane. We have ob- 
served that a new-born child has no accurate 
use of its senses. By experience the senses are 
developed and trained. 

The knowledge that must be gathered before 
the senses become trained and accurate servants 
of the mind, together with all merely sensual 
experiences, constitute the Sensual plane of the 
mind, g, which is the basis of subsequent and 
higher mental attainments. It is distinctly higher 
than any plane below^ it in the diagram, being 
as much superior as knowledge is to an organ 
through which it is obtained. 

When sensual knowledge is acquired, and there- 
by a correct use of the senses, a higher order of 
knowledge can be obtained. Through the use of 
the senses it is learned that certain seasons fol- 
low in succession, that light and heat are essen- 
tial to life ; in short the facts of geography, geol- 
og>^ zoology, chemistry, and of all the sciences. 
This knowledge of facts is proper to the Scientific 
plane, represented by f, which it fills and forms. 
The distinction between the Scientific and the 
Sensual plane is that which exists between the 

316 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



knowledge employed in the use of the senses and 
that which is acquired by means of them. 

Science being acquired to some extent, combi- 
nations of facts are made, and conclusions deduced 
by a rational process. This faculty is proper to 
the Rational plane, e. By means of the facts of 
the Scientific plane, rational truths are deduced, 
and the Rational plane developed and filled. It 
is evident that the Rational differs from the Scien- 
tific as deduced truths differ from the facts upon 
which they are based, and that the Rational is 
superior to the Scientific as philosophy is higher 
than a mere collection of facts. 

The Three Degrees Of The Spiritual Or 
Internal Mind. 

By means of rational truths or the Rational 
plane, the spiritual-natural or external laws of 
the spiritual world, of the mind, and of man as a 
spiritual being can be received and confirmed. 
Spiritual-natural laws are perceived by a plane 
of the mind coincident therewith, which is the 
Spiritual-Natural, d. This plane is opened and 
developed by the perception and knowledge of 
the laws natural to the soul and to the spiritual 
world, and by the reception of the life proper 
to these laws. These laws, as they are the 
outward laws of the spiritual world, necessarily 

317 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



comprehend the external order proper to the spir- 
itual world, and to man as an inhabitant of it. 
As they are the lower laws of the spiritual 
world, they are the laws of man's spiritual com- 
fort and well being. The Spiritual-Natural plane 
of the mind is of the order that, in brief, perceives 
that the commandments are the laws of the 
Creator, of the mind, and therefore ought to be 
kept, and that through obedience thereto one 
receives the intelligence and satisfactions that are 
in Divine external order. The Spiritual-Natural 
is distinguished from the Rational as morality 
differs from rationality. The Spiritual-Natural is 
opened and developed by removing evils and 
falsities from the Rational, and by the acquisi- 
tion of truth and life proper to the Rational. The 
Spiritual-Natural and the Rational are in Corre- 
spondence. 

The Spiritual plane, c, is next in order. It 
comprehends the causes of the external law and 
order of the spiritual world and of the spirit. It 
is opened and developed by the further removal 
of evils and falsities from 'the Scientific, f, and 
the adoption of spiritual truths and their coordi- 
nate life. It differs from the Spiritual-Natural as 
a life according to spiritual laws with the knowl- 
edge of causes, differs from a life according to 
laws from simple obedience without a knowledge 

318 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



of their causes. The Spiritual opens to receive 
and perceive internal order and life. The Spirit- 
ual and the Scientific are in Correspondence, 
the former being formed by spiritual truth and 
the latter by natural truth or science. 

The Celestial, b, is the highest plane of con- 
sciousness. It is the plane that receives and sen- 
sates supreme love to the Lord. It is opened 
and developed by continuing on still further and 
removing evils and errors from the Sensual, g, 
and by bringing the whole man into Divine order 
through the acquisition of the truth and life 
proper to the Celestial plane. The Celestial differs 
from the Spiritual as love differs from wisdom, 
or as acting from love differs from acting from 
truth. Supreme love for self and the world rules 
in the merely natural man. He recognizes only 
self. The natural man becomes rational, and 
the Rational is opened and developed in him as 
he acknowledges and obeys the Lord, though only 
in the external degree of natural good and truth. 
The Spiritual and the Celestial may be distin- 
guished by these further considerations. The 
Spiritual, or the spiritual man, acknowledges 
spiritual and celestial truth and good, but from 
the principle of faith; while the Celestial, or 
celestial man, does the same, yet from faith 
grounded in good. The end ruling in the spirit- 

319 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



ual regards eternal life, and thereby the Lord. 
The end ruling in the Celestial primarily regards 
the Lord, and thereby eternal life. 

The Celestial, which sensates Divine love, is 
in Correspondence with the sensual, which sen- 
sates in the ultimate. It will be obser^^ed that 
the Natural Mind is regenerated in an order the 
reverse of that according to which it is formed, 
and that the regenerate return to a regenerated 
childhood. 

Such is the relation of the Spiritual Mind to 
the Natural IMind that the Celestial has its ulti- 
mate in the Sensual; the Spiritual, in the Scien- 
tific; and the Spiritual-Natural, in the Rational: 
and each plane of the Natural Mind has its ulti- 
mate in the Limbus. 

The Inmost. 

The Inmost, a, is the highest plane in the himian 
organism. It is above the mind, and consequently 
above the plane of consciousness. It is the first 
to receive activity from the Creator, and from its 
activity life in the planes below it is derived, and 
consciousness is made possible. 

By this series of discrete degrees the himian 
form reaches upward to receive life from the 
Creator; as the psalmist sa^'s, "Thou hast made 
him a little lower than God (Elohim)'' 

320 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



The Creator. 

A represents the Creator, the source of life, 
toward whom all development tends. I am the 
vine, ye are the branches." 

The Grand Divisions Of The Human Organism. 

This diagram may help to fix a clear and well 
defined distinction in regard to the divisions of the 
human organism. First there are the two gen- 
eral divisions of the Human Form, the Soul and 
the Natural Body. The Natural Body is formed 
exclusively from matter taken from nature. 
It clothes the Soul, and is its instrument of life 
and action in the natural world. The Soul is 
all that part superior to nature collectively, and 
is formed entirely from the substances of the 
spiritual world. 

The Soul comprises three subdivisions; the 
Spiritual Body, which clothes the Mind and is its 
instrument of action in the spiritual world and 
in the natural body; the Mind, which is in the 
Spiritual Body as the nerves are in the natural 
body; and the Inmost, which first receives 
influx from the Creator. The Mind has two 
divisions, the Natural or External Mind and the 
Spiritual or Internal Mind. The Spiritual Mind 
coincides with the successive degrees of sub- 

21 321 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



stance and life in the spiritual world. The suc- 
cessive degrees of the spiritual world in Divine 
order and with their Hfe maker the heavens, as 
the degrees of mineral, plant, and animal hfe 
constitute nature. So it may be said that the 
Spiritual or Internal Mind coincides with the 
degrees in heaven, or with the heavens of the spir- 
itual world. Since the Spiritual Mind is an image 
of heaven, there are as many heavens as there are 
discrete degrees, or distinct orders of truth and 
life in the Spiritual Mind, which are three. The 
Natural or External ^lind coincides with the 
degrees and orders of life in the natural world. 

The Hells Are Formed From Those Who Fail 
To Fulfil Ix Axy Degree The 
Purposes Of Life. 

Since the heavens are formed by the three 
degrees of the spiritual world, and are entered by 
the opening of corresponding degrees in the mind, 
the failure to open any of the degrees makes 
entr}" into the heavens impossible. The truths of 
the Word are provided that by a life according 
to them man may ascend the ladder of sensual, 
scientific, and rational life to spiritual life. But 
if no plane of the Internal Mind is opened by a 
religious life, the planes of the mind become, 
as it were, withered, and they can no more 

322 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



receive the life that constitutes heaven than the 
eye of the cave-fish can receive the light of the 
sun; yet one must continue to live, as he only can, 
in some plane of the Natural Mind in an undevel- 
oped state. Therefore those who fail to provide 
for the reception of heaven's life, are gathered into 
an order by themselves, which is called hell, .where 
for want of preparation for a higher life they must 
remain in the limitations of the merely natural 
delights or externality, commonly called world- 
liness and self-love. 

The Hells, Which Are Three, Are Governed 
By The Lord. 

Since there are three planes of the Natural 
Mind, by the regeneration of which the heavens 
are constituted, so there are three hells formed 
from these planes perverted or unregenerated. 
Into the hells are gathered all those who have 
used natural things with wrong motives, and have 
allowed pleasures and appetites, or the love of 
gain, honor, position, and the world to destroy 
all love of use to others. With such the Spiritual 
Mind is not perverted, because it coincides with 
the heavens, and no evil or falsity can enter there ; 
but it is closed, and the Natural Mind is infilled 
with evils and falsities, or spiritual substance in 
perverted forms in which evils and falsities inhere. 

323 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Consequently but little influx can pass from the 
Lord through the Spiritual Mind into the Natural 
Mind, where the influx is resisted by what is evil 
and false, and the endeavor received is changed 
into the opposite. Those who become so con- 
firmed in the perverted life of the Rational that 
it is a ruling principle constitute the highest hell. 
The middle hell is composed of those who have 
sunk in evils and falsities to the extent that the 
perverted life of the Scientific rules. In the 
lowest hell are those who have degenerated to 
the lowest degree of evil and falsity, wherein 
the perverted life of the sensual rules. In the 
descent the influx becomes less and less, the un- 
derstanding declining until the intellect is stupid, 
like that of fish, and the love becoming more 
depraved until it becomes like that of ravenous 
wild beasts. In such, love from the Lord is 
turned into hatred and rage, the good and truth 
of the natural is destroyed, and the fotmdations 
of the higher life of heaven burn in evil. " For 
a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn into 
the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth 
with her increase, and set on fire the foundations 
of the mountains." 

What the life of hell is may be perceived by the 
spiritually minded, for its influx terminates in 
evil desires and thoughts in like people upon the 

324 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



earth, in the savage and venomous animals, and 
in noxious plants and poisonous matter of the 
earth. Yet the Creator's loving care for those in 
hell is not diminished. Since God is infinite love, 
He can not cease to do for mankind, whatsoever 
sins they commit. He leaves nothing undone that 
will minister to those who have become abortions 
of the universe because they persistently willed 
against being born into Creation's order. They 
are gathered into an order, and are the spiritual 
opposites of the heavens, where spiritual influx 
terminates, and where, through their evil uses, 
there is reaction. The hells constitute a king- 
dom of negative uses, in performing which they 
delight. O Lord * * * the wicked * * * are 
Thy sword." Their delights are infernal, because 
they are the delights of self-love, while the joys of 
heaven are from the love of use. They are gov- 
erned by the one Lord whose tender mercies are 
over all. If I make up my bed in hell, behold. 
Thou art there." The hells are not in the 
Grand Man. They together constitute the great 
dragon," the Devil. 

Goodness and truth from the Lord flow down 
through man's interiors to the ultimates of the 
natural mind. When evils and falsities are in 
the natural mind, the influx is turned into what 
is evil and false ; or in other words, the commu- 

325 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



nicated endeavor takes the form of the e^-il and 
the falsit}' in the natiiral mind, and what is evil 
and false restilts. But if the tdtimates agree with 
the prior things, then the Lord and prior things 
are together in the nattiral or ultimate, and 
act as one with man. 

The Intermediate ^orld. 

The church has rightly beheved in an existence 
between heaven and heU. described in the Word 
as the place where judgment occurs. It has 
been called hades or purgator\', but with many 
wrong ideas concerning its nature. It is rightly 
described as the Intermediate World of Spirits, 
for those in it have not yet taken their places as 
angels in heaven or as devils in hell. It is not, 
it may be said, another or novel world. As the 
heavens parallel the Spirittial jklind fully opened, 
and the hells parallel the Natural ^Mind infilled 
with e\*ils and falsities when closed to the Spirit- 
ual Mind, so the Intermediate World parallels the 
Natural !Mind partly open to the Internal ^lind; 
due to there yet being in the Natural !Mind a 
mixture of what is from heaven and what is from 
heU, or of " wheat and tares." Upon entering the 
spiritual world, with the majority' of those who 
have made heaven possible to them, there is still 
some evil or falsit}- to be removed, for am^hing 

326 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



that defileth," can not enter heaven. With many 
who have not made heaven possible, there is still 
some knowledge of the good or true, which must 
be taken away before hell is entered, for " whoso- 
ever hath not, from him shall be taken away 
even that he hath." Those who are undergoing 
this preparation, either for heaven or for hell, 
constitute the Intermediate World of Spirits. 

The Purpose Of Creation And The Destiny Of 

Man. 

Thus viewing the human organization as a 
whole, the philosophy and purpose of its creation 
are clearly seen. The Soul, composed of the In- 
most, the Mind, and the Spiritual Body constitutes 
a complete spiritual being, which is the real man. 
The Natural Body is but a material covering 
enabling the person to live in the natural world. 

The purpose of living in the natural world 
may be confirmed from the results. The infant 
is not a man, though it has in it in an undeveloped 
form all the himian degrees. Nor is one truly 
a man because he is grown to the fulness of stat- 
ure. An infant becomes a man in the true sense 
in proportion to the development of all the de- 
grees of his organization; so also a man becomes 
the image and likeness of God. Man is clothed 
with a natural body not only that the soul may 

327 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

have an ultimate in which it may be formed, 
but also that the lowest orders of law and life 
that nature embraces, as it is the lowest and out- 
most of the universe, may first be acquired. Thus 
the creation or development of man is commenced 
in nature. This is clearly substantiated in the 
development and education of every individual, 
for there is obtained first sensual knowledge; 
by means of this, scientific truths ; and by means 
of these, rational truths; by these the laws and 
truths of the spiritual world are comprehended; 
and lastly by these the mind is opened to Divine 
love that is nearer to the Creator. In infancy 
the Sensual is developed; in childhood the Scien- 
tific is comm.enced ; in youth the Rational appears ; 
in early manhood the Spiritual-Natural, which 
comprehends the external law and order of the 
spiritual world, can be formed; later the Spiritual, 
which perceives truth of the spiritual order, 
develops ; and lastly the Celestial, which predomi- 
nantly receives and sensates Divine love, is 
opened, reaching its fulness at the close of life, 
provided the life has been according to Divine 
order. In the development of the Celestial there 
is the closest and fullest reception of life from 
the Creator. This, coming last, is the evident 
design of what comes before. It is the final 
object and end of himian existence and of crea- 

328 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



tion. It is the mellow frtdt ready to be gathered. 
It is the ripened grain. But at best it is not 
long attained, and this with grievous toil, when 
death ensues. If man did not continue to live on 
in a spiritual world where his acquirements are 
used, and where the opened degrees will attain 
spiritual fulness, the purposes of existence would 
be defeated and creation a failure. The continu- 
ity of design in the universe and in man, the on- 
ward drift of purpose, and the concentration of 
the universal whole into one thing but just pro- 
duced at the end of life, when seen in its fulness, 
is so sweeping an evidence of the continuation 
of life in the spiritual world, that everlasting life 
may be rationally seen as an inevitable result of 
design and the law of use as taught in the Word. 
It is as easy to conceive the existence of a sun 
without an earth upon which to shine, or of an 
earth without vegetation, or vegetation without 
animal life, or animal life without man, as it is 
to comprehend the creation of the marvellously 
designed and endowed himian form without a 
field for the realization and existence of man's 
highest use and last attainments. "For He is 
not a God of the dead but of the living: for all 
live unto Him." 

The organization of man, as we have traced it, 
is observed to be such that the material body 

329 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



can be laid off, for the spiritual part is the real 
person and a complete spiritual being. The order 
of creation is such as first to form us; then to 
bring us into natural knowledge and life; then 
to introduce us by means of these into the knowl- 
edge and life of a spiritual world; and then 
when this knowledge and life is attained in a 
suitable preparatory degree, and life's uses are 
done, the natural body, through which the man 
makes such acquisition, yet w^hich prevents full 
entrance into the spiritual world and consequent 
advancement, is shed, that the person may come 
fully into the truth and life of the spiritual 
world. That mankind should pursue this order 
and development until through wisdom in his 
understanding and love in his soul he comes 
into the knowledge and presence of God the 
Creator, is the one purpose of his creation and 
existence manifested in the design of the human 
organism, evidenced by the law of use, and cor- 
roborated by all genuine science, enlightened 
reason, and the Divine Word. " Shall I bring to 
the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" 

Man Is So Created That He Can Be Separated 
From The Material Body. 

The natural body, coinciding with the degrees 
in nature, having served the purpose of enabling 

330 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



the real person to begin his existence, is laid off 
at death that the person may enter into the full 
use of the spiritual faculties opened or formed 
through his abode in nature, and into full and 
conscious existence in the spiritual world, which 
is coincident with the degrees of the spiritual 
mind. 

What death is may be graphically illustrated 
by Diagram IV, Page 312. It consists in laying 
off the organism marked k and 1 in the Natural 
Body. Whereupon the natural world becomes im- 
perceptible, there being no longer the organism of 
the material senses by which there is Correspond- 
ence with the natural world. The Soul, being a 
complete spiritual organism in itself, continues on 
in all ways a living, thinking, willing, sentient 
being by Correspondence with the coincident 
planes of the spiritual world. The material 
body with its limitations being laid off, the Soul 
becomes, according to its preparation, fully plas- 
tic and responsive to influx from the spiritual 
world, and then is realized the awakening of fac- 
ulties, the intenser life, and the interior Divine 
satisfaction that the natural eye hath not seen" 
and the natural "ear hath not heard." The 
Spiritual Mind opens consciously to life and 
activity on coincident planes of the spiritual world, 
just as the person lived in nature in planes coin- 

331 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



ddent with the iiat'jLral body. The lnr_iTr..-:i:r.5 
of fixed matter J :r ::.e material ly, :e:::^ 
off, a fresh and nev. i:i±tik of life is :e.: a chser 
presence of God. A new world da"-r_s upon the 
man as o soihtnal h eing, and the spirituiil o itrncies 
attained by a li:e in the worll act :r into: tt the 
laws of God, heret::;re ntere r : 11 nents. spring 
forth afresh in wisdont an : 1 -e Dl ine. Then is 

ns as the rain as the htter and t trmer rain ttnto 
the earth. U::n laying :± the body in which 
are the : : y retl senses thtt perceive nature, the 

^'nt "•' t' "1 'S ~'"e -"h n." z" ~''ti-^ wc^'^d., '''^ n^ "n^c^e 

stn"-, tne tnttnt.noeat'-e Lreaton, is seen as a^ont ni 

L:ra ana frint^Hint dalhl life's uses, that "The 
sun shtll lie n: n :re thy hght l y day neither 
for brightness sht.ll the ntcon give hght unto 
thee: but the L:rd shall be unto thee an ever- 
lasting light, an 1 thy O: a thy gloria 

That man s ir 1 es the aeath of the body for 
any time is stifhcient e id ncr ;f his sur i ing 
it for all time. 

The comprehensirn :f the aegrees in the nattral 
53-' 



HUMAN FORM AND DESTINY OF MAN 



and in the spiritual worid and in the natural and 
spiritual part of man and their relation to each 
other and to the Creator is an irrefutable and 
convincing argument that a personal, conscious, 
human, immortal existence in the spiritual world 
is the destiny of man. It fully justifies the 
Divine Intelligence manifested in creation, and 
gives adequate reason for the creation and the 
existence of man. 



333 



CHAPTER XVIIL 



EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA. 



The Spiritual Part Of Man In Its Entirety Is 
Derived From The Father; The Material 
Part Is From The Mother. 

Ftirther data having been added, this short 
chapter discussing some details is interposed. 

In procreation, the soul, or all that part coin- 
cident with the degrees in the spiritual world, 
see Diagram IV, is derived from the father in a 
rudimentary form called the seed, which for the 
purpose of protection and conveyance to the ovum 
is clothed w^ith natural substance. The body 
with its initial degrees is derived from the 
mother. That the complete soul is derived from 
the father is very evident; for, since it is a com- 
plete spiritual organization of itself, as has been 
observed, its division without its destruction can 
not be conceived. Likewise it m.ay be known 
that the body in its entirety is from the mother. 
That the soul is derived from the father was 
known to the ancients, hence in m.arriage the name 
of the male was retained, which custom still pre- 

334 



EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA 



vails. It is likewise taught in the Word; ''All 
the souls that came out of Jacob's loins were 
thirty-six." 

As we descend the animal scale and come to 
the lower forms, sex becomes more indistinct, 
sometimes the male and female organs of genera- 
tion occurring in two individuals, and again in 
one, as in the aphis. As the animal kingdom 
approaches the vegetable, it would naturally be 
expected that it would take on some of the charac- 
teristics of plants. The pistillate and staminate 
flowers are sometimes found separate and some- 
times conjoined; so in the lower animal forms, 
the male and female organs may appear in different 
individuals or conjoined in one. Whether only 
the functions of the male are represented in the 
plant and the female functions by the earth as 
taught by Swedenborg, or whether the male sex 
is represented by the staminate function, and the 
female by the pistillate, is not necessary to discuss 
here; for under either view the principle must 
hold true that the plant-soul is derived through 
the male sex and the body from the representative 
of the female. 

The Crossing Of Varieties, And Sterility. 

At conception the initial soul clothes itself with 
an initial body, and proceeds to develop it. Evolu- 

335 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



tionists have expressed surprise that aUied species 
win not cross, yet this should naturaU^^be expected. 
As the body is developed by the soul, the soul 
can only produce its own form, and to do this 
a corresponding body must be provided. The 
inability to cross species is due to the initial body 
in the ovum being so different in its structure as 
to prevent Correspondence with the initial soul. 
The instances of varieties crossing is explicable 
upon the basis of the similarity of degrees in the 
germinal soul and in the germinal body, and a suf- 
ficiently close Hkeness in general form and nature. 

In the case of the production of hybrids, the 
body from the mother is sufficiently akin to the 
soul from the father for the purpose of concep- 
tion, but sterility in hybrids ensues because the 
body from the mother is not sufficiently in Cor- 
respondence with the soul from the father for the 
full operation of the functions of the soul in the 
body essential to procreation. The function of 
reproduction, which has its commencement in the 
finest substances of the soul, is dependent upon 
the highest organism of the body, and though 
the bodily organism of hybrids is able to perform 
in general the functions of the soul, the dissimilar- 
ity is fatal to the effective operation of the more 
highly organized and delicate ftmction of pro- 
creation. 

336 



EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA 



The crossing in plants can be carried much 
further than in animals because of their lower 
organization and simplicity of structure and func- 
tion. The fact that both pistillate and stam- 
inate functions represent the male or father, and 
the earth represents the female or mother is also 
to be taken into consideration. 

The Multiplication Of Animals By Offshoots. 

Multiplication of certain animal forms by off- 
shoots or budding is due to the nearness of their 
order to that of the plant, and is explicable by 
the same principle as the multiplication of plants 
by budding or slipping; which is, that the divi- 
sional part is initially a form similar to the whole ; 
and because of the simplicity of form in the lower 
orders, it is capable of development. 

The Cause Of Birthmarks. 

Birthmarks and the transmission or reappear- 
ance of physical peculiarities are explicable accord- 
ing to the same principles. The spiritual organiza- 
tion, or the soul, wherein the corresponding causes 
are more or less fixed, forms the body. This is 
done by the mind operating in the soul, and form- 
ing the body in Correspondence with its own life. 
The mind, operating in the soul, and together with 

337 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



it, acts into or upon the purest substance of the 
body imbuing it with corresponding Hfe and en- 
deavor. Thereby mental states, which are first 
causes, flow down into the body and produce there 
corresponding effects. That the causes originate 
in the mind and that the mind is the formative 
essential, are shown from the well known effect 
of the mental impressions of mothers upon the 
embryo. Peculiarities reappear in offspring be- 
cause the mind is substance and form in which the 
peculiarities inhere, and because the mind im- 
presses itself upon the least part of the spiritual 
and of the natural body, and hence upon the 
offspring. Under favorable circumstances such 
peculiarities produce corresponding effects in the 
body. 

Why The Human Body In Its Development 
Resembles The Lower Animals. 

The fact that the human foetus in its develop- 
ment successively resembles types of lovv^er orders 
of animals, has been used as confirmatory of Evo- 
lution; it being thought that the foetus could 
not take such forms were it not originally derived 
from them. This phenomenon is the direct re- 
sult of development, and in no way confirms 
Evolution. As the human form is composed of 
successive planes or degrees coincident with those 

338 



EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA 



in creation, in the process of its development 
these degrees must have rule in succession. Since 
the animal form approached the human as it 
ascended to embrace the higher degrees, it is 
natural that the foetus should successively re- 
semble some form of the lower orders while the 
specific degrees of the order are respectively- 
active. 

That the human foetus should range the ani- 
mal scale is, so far as it is true, confirmative not 
of Evolution, but of the fact that man is a mi- 
crocosm, a little universe, in which there are 
representatively the essentials of the macrocosm. 
That the developing foetus resembles lower forms 
of animals is not only a demonstration of the 
fact that man is a microcosm, but also that the 
higher animals are microcosms, in a less perfect 
degree, of what precedes them. We have in 
the development of the foetus a beautiful illus- 
tration of how fully there is gathered into the 
forms of the higher animals as their nature 
the essence of what had gone before, and of how 
the universal animal kingdom is gathered into 
man. 

Miracles. 

A full discussion of this subject is not in the 
line of the present purpose, yet a few general 

339 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



statements may be made. Since the miracles are 
of such different kind, it is difficult to say much 
of them as a class that would be true of each. 
For some of the miracles were performed by 
opening the mind to the spiritual world, or by 
making things appear to the mind rather than 
to the corporeal senses, as the mountains round 
about Dothan covered with horses and chariots, 
or the ass talking to Balaam; and some are ex- 
plained by natural causes, like the winds driv- 
ing back the waters of the Red Sea. But it 
may be said of all that they were performed 
according to, and not in violation of law. Power 
descended from God into suitable ultimates by 
Divine volition, and worked natural results. 
The frogs and lice of Egypt were created by the 
same laws that they were originally brought 
forth. The almond budded by the same laws that 
all plants do. The manna formed by the same 
laws that it gathers in the ear of corn. The 
water turned into wine by the same forces that 
it does the same thing in the grape. Diseases 
were cured and the dead raised by the same 
life-force that heals and restores now. But in 
the case of miracles they differed only that God 
willed, and gave an increased influx, whereby 
results were more immediate. 

The miracles can not be explained away, for 
340 



EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA 



they are to show that He who did them is the 
Controller of creation's forces. The miracle that 
convinces one of God's presence and power because 
he does not understand, does the same, but better, 
for him who does understand. 

That the Lord could not do miracles in violation 
of law is evident from the Word saying that He 
could there do no mighty works," because of 
their unbelief. ' ' The supreme worth of the miracles 
is that they are perfect and everlasting pictures 
of great spiritual laws and facts, because they 
were all done according to the law of Correspond- 
ence. The plagues of Egypt show how man 
is cursed spiritually for disobeying the Divine law 
of spiritual life. The water and bread given in 
the wilderness reveal how God sustains us with 
truth and love in spiritual desolation. The 
restoration of the withered hand shows how the 
Lord strengthens the withered will in doing good 
when in faith it is put forth. Healing diseases 
and raising the dead are dramatic presentations 
of how the Lord removes our evils and raises us 
from death in sin. When rightly understood all 
the miracles become as mirrors wherein are 
reflected spiritual laws in which are the infinite 
wisdom and love of God. 

The chemist, trying to extract protoplasm, the 
basis of animal life, from the earth, little realizes 

341 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



how we are momentarily dependent upon the 
creative act for our daily bread, and that God 
alone can give it. Like Israel of old, when 
they saw their bread lying upon the face of 
the T\ildemess, in spite of miracle on every 
hand, at the sight of it he can but cry, Manna — 
What-is-it. 



342 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 



Freedom Of Choice Is An Essential Of The 
Human Form. 

But little observation is reqmred to reveal that 
animals are born into the knowledge common 
to them. A chicken just from the egg, and so 
without experience, will distinguish a wasp from 
a worm. The young of animals know their en- 
emies and their proper food. The bee, without 
instruction, will make the hexagon cell, gather 
honey for the winter, and make provision for the 
young. Birds know how to build their nests, 
rear their young, flee before the approaching 
winter, and return in the spring. These and all 
things of their life they are led to do not by fore- 
thought and calculation, but by their instincts. 

Man at birth is born into no knowledge what- 
ever o He does not know his enemies or his food, 
nor can he correctly use his senses. He is as to 
ability and self- thought lower than any animal. 
Animals of every class know equally well how 

343 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



to Hve, and they fulfil their order. AYith man 
this knowledge greatly differs from that of an- 
imals, each having to learn all that he knows, 
and few fulfillLng their order. 

This may at first glance seem to be a misfortune, 
but it is an indispensable essential to the himian 
being. If man were born into the knowledge and 
life proper to him, his responsibility, and conse- 
quently his individuality, would be destroyed, 
whereby he would become subject to the severest 
type of fatalism. Man is born in ultimates that 
he ma}^ come into interiors. He is born into no 
knowledge or fixed life that he may through his 
own volimtary effort gain knowledge of every 
kind, and make his life what he will. Though by 
nativity he has no knowledge, he has capacity 
to acquire learning, to elevate his character, and 
by truth and life be born again and from above 
through his own volition; for every one is bom 
with the faculty to come into the imderstanding 
of the highest truth. The Psalmist rightly ex- 
presses this great spiritual fact, " ]\Iy soul is con- 
tinually in my hand." ]\Ian's likeness to God 
is that he should in freedom act as from himself, 
and form his mind and life, which could not be 
were he bom into any particular knowledge or 
love; for in that instance his mind and quality 
would be predetermined by the knowledge and 

344 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



love into which he was born, as is the case with 
animals. To say that the animals are born into 
their knowledge and life is not to maintain that 
they are born with fully developed minds. Much 
is acquired through association and experience, 
for they are in free will on the natural plane, and 
their faculties are sharpened and quickened, yet 
this is not from rational development, but from 
association and the training of the instinct. 

The animal, having neither the highest 
degree wherein love and wisdom are received 
immediately from the Creator nor the Internal 
Mind, which distinguish the human, is a fixed 
form incapable of rising above the purely animal. 
The acorn can develop into nothing but an oak, 
the animal can become only animal; but man, 
because of his form, may become an angel, an 
image and likeness of God. 

The mind of the higher animals, being coinci- 
dent in its degrees with the Natural Mind of 
man, displays knowledge, memory, and percep- 
tion; and in the animal kingdom as a whole are 
found traces of all the natural emotions of man: 
yet, as in the operations of the animal mind cause 
and effect are not rationally comprehended and 
conjoined, they are purely instinctive. 

The nature of the human mind is remarkably 
different. At birth man is animal, and only ani- 

345 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



mal, except that there are in him, by virtue of 
the form of his mind, elementary faculties where- 
by he may volimtarily appropriate knowledge, and 
by it subjugate the animal nature, remove error, 
purify his desires, and become a form receptive 
of and sensitive to Divine human love from the 
Creator. Thus from animal he may become 
human, angelic, and God-like. 

The True Development Of Max Is The Attain- 
ment Of Divine Love From God. 

The human mind consists of two comprehensive 
and distinct faculties, the will, from which are 
affections; and the imderstanding, from which 
are thoughts. Consequently development consists 
in the two-fold office of instructing the understand- 
ing and of exalting the quality of the affections 
or will. The actual and only true development 
of man is the transformation of his affections 
so that from natural they become human and 
spiritual. This transformation is effected by 
means of truths which appertain to the under- 
standing. To outward appearance animal or 
natural affections may appear like himian or 
spiritual affection, but their nature is interiorly 
different. Animal and natural affections are self- 
seeking, self -centered, self -regarding, and as to 
their essence are self-love. Human or spiritual 

346 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



affections are self-thoughtless and self-sacrificing; 
they regard the general welfare, and are as to 
their essence the love of others. Natural love 
frequently resembles the love of others, for ani- 
mals and natural men love their young, and will 
surrender their lives for them and in defense of 
their companions ; yet this is not the love of others 
or altruistic love, for it is the love of others for 
the sake of self, and is essentially self-love. The 
love of others is such kind of love as God has in 
Himself, who created men not that they should 
minister unto Him, but that He might minister 
unto them. The nature of God's love is such 
as to be in the endeavor to bestow itself upon 
others for their sake, and so man is created with 
faculties capable of attaining unto that love and 
of receiving it. Consequently the designed and 
true development of man is the successive unfold- 
ing of the degrees of the mind until that is 
opened wherein God's love is felt and becomes a 
constant, satisfying life-force; or, in other words, 
until man loves with such kind of love as God 
has and is revealed in Jesus Christ. Enlightened, 
polished, and refined self-interest does not neces- 
sarily bring man nearer the Divine goal; it may 
possibly bring him nearer the lowest hell. 

Man is therefore not developed simply, by 
acquiring knowledge. Neither science, art, in- 

347 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

vention, nor any external form of society can 
develop man. The Indian is not developed or 
materially changed by the substitution of a rifle 
for a bow and arrow. Such substitution might 
enable him to secure his food more easily, or to be 
a greater robber, but it would not change his 
character. Neither is it possible to develop man 
by the gift of love alone, for pure love can embrace 
only that which is good and right. True love 
can love the welfare of every being and the good 
that one may have, but it can not attach itself to 
the false or the evil. Love must be discriminating 
against the disorderly and evil, which ability comes 
from wisdom. It is a true saying that where doubt 
begins love ends. It is equally true that where 
ignorance begins love ends. No one can love a 
science, a degree of truth, or anything of which 
he is ignorant. Love is formed, purified, exalted, 
and ennobled by knowledge. Though love and 
knowledge are thus mutually related, it is to be 
observed that knowledge alone can not elevate 
love, nor is love of knowledge alone an exalted love. 
The genuine love of any order of knowledge or 
truth is the love of its uses. Knowledge opens 
the way to new life, new delights, and to the reali- 
zation of new affections ; but affection, if it is of 
a superior kind, must be based upon the knowledge, 
perception, and life of uses. The intellect may be 

348 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



developed by science and art, but character, which 
is the real man, is not materially elevated by 
these if they are turned into channels of mere 
aggrandizement and selfishness. The true develop- 
ment of man is essentially the increase and eleva- 
tion of his love of God and of use, in the accom- 
plishment of which, knowledge is essential. 

The First Civilization Was Effected Through 
A Knowledge Of Spiritual Things, And 
From A Desire To Attain The Image 
And Likeness Of God, The Creator. 

The process of the development of the first 
civilization may always be more or less theoretical, 
yet sufficient facts may be gathered to throw some 
certain light upon this most interesting problem. 

There are some things that may be known with 
certainty. The first civilization, as the Word 
teaches, did not develop out of savagery, but 
from primeval innocence. The whole course of 
logic is that civilization preceded barbarism, 
into which it subsequently fell. God could not 
create a man in His image and likeness, and at 
the same time make him a savage. The nature 
of the human required that man should have 
been created ignorant, yet innocent. As the first 
people were developed by the laws of creation, 
and free-will had not had opportunity to violate 

349 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Divine order, and so produce evil forms and evil 
tendencies, it is certain that the first people were 
a true expression of the creative laws; that is, 
they were brought forth in Divine order, and 
were in innocence. Being the product of crea- 
tive laws, the embodiment of Divine order, and 
without evil tendencies, they would be delicately 
sensitive and favorably responsive to influx from 
the Creator. 

It may be known that as they were not bom 
into any knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge 
would be essential to their development. The 
important question is, as man was developed by 
the acquisition of knowledge and the elevation 
of his affections, how did he acquire knowl- 
edge, and what moved him to higher acquisitions? 
The nature of the human mind, which must be 
self-formed, forbids his having been born into 
knowledge superior to that of animals, though 
he might be instantaneously developed to any 
degree of physical strength. We therefore con- 
ceive of man starting his existence with nothing 
but appetites craving food, though having un- 
developed faculties. The Natural Mind, like the 
earth, " was without form, and void" ; " and dark- 
ness was upon the face of the deep," the Spiritual 
Mind. One might see the effects of rain upon 
vegetation, perceive the effects of various foods, 

350 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



observe the habits of animals, study the effects of 
the sun and the arrangement of stars, but this 
would not elevate his love, for the knowledge of 
the sun and stars is of no higher character than 
that which tells in what kind of soil would grow 
the best corn. 

It is moral truth that elevates man. That the 
first people should have had the knowledge of 
applied natural science, as it exists in steam- 
ships, railroads, printing presses and the like, 
was not necessary. While this is useful to so- 
ciety of our kind, it is not indispensable to a high, 
moral and spiritual development; and possibly 
it would not even be cultivated among us if we 
were a genus of man that intently aspired toward 
the acquisition of spiritual truth and life. With- 
out the knowledge of applied science primeval 
man could know that the Creator had made man. 
They could know that they were spiritual beings 
clothed with material bodies; that there is a life 
after death; that the acquisition of wisdom and 
love from the Creator and their delights and uses 
are the purpose of creation, and to fulfil that 
purpose God should be loved, and His Divine 
order preserved. Though there were no tele- 
graphs, steel war-ships, or printing presses, they 
could have known how God brought forth the 
spiritual world, and through it the natural; how 

351 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



the soul forms the body ; man's relation to nature, 
to the spiritual world, and to God. They could 
have known how so to live that God's life would 
best flow in and lift them up spiritually into His 
presence. These are the things that elevate man, 
and these are the truths that they at the begin- 
ning could have had. Though they did not 
know how to make a triple-expansion engine, 
or understand the electric current, they could 
look into nature, and see it as a perpetual pan- 
orama of God's powers, a veritable parable of the 
spiritual world. They could have seen God's 
wisdom, power, and love thus revealed; they 
could with keen vision have penetrated nature, 
observed there the imiversal natural science 
perpetually operative, and have Hfted up their 
vision to see God in His works. They, in the 
degree that they willed to do so, could have 
opened their minds and affections to His life, and 
have been given to know of the power, richness, 
and hallo wedness of His love, resulting finally in 
a supreme illumination both mental and moral. 

There are abundant reasons and much evidence 
that this was the case. There is one reason alone 
that is adequate. Since such an elevation of 
man was the purpose of God's creation, and there 
had not then intervened self-will as opposed to 
God or to Divine order, and since the human race 

352 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



was in its infant state and susceptible of being 
led as little children, it must have taken place. 
As I pen these words, it comes to me how utterly 
abandoned of reason niust be the mind that needs 
any argument to substantiate the truth that He, 
who created man as His children destined for 
eternal life in His heaven, who has ever sought 
to keep us in peace, even as a hen gathereth her 
brood under her wings, made a full revelation 
of human destiny from the beginning. In Bible 
times there were still remnants of the first methods 
used by the Creator to teach His children. In- 
struction by dreams and visions abound in the 
Word. Instruction by angels v/as a later process, 
then came the prophet and seer, and the written 
Word, and lastly a revelation of its spiritual 
sense through Swedenborg, whereby the Word 
becomes the tabernacle of God with men, to which 
they may resort and be supplied with all spiritual 
truth. 

The human mind, being formed as the product 
of creation's laws and having the faculties of 
perceiving those laws and of receiving their 
life, must have imfolded to the putting forth of 
that life much as a tree puts forth its leaves, 
flowers, and fruits through the orderly recep- 
tion of influent life. This is not to say that 
man developed to states of wisdom and love 

353 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



involuntarily as a plant grows, but that being 
in Divine order, he willingly received that order 
through influx from the Creator, entered into it, 
and fulfilled it in himself. 

The time that it took for this truly intellectual, 
moral, and spiritual development, it seems, need 
not have extended through ages, or even through 
many generations in arriving at a considerable 
degree of fulness with such as willed to receive, 
for the period of life was undoubtedly longer 
then than now, and the mind readily responded 
to the developing forces. That there was such 
an early development which started the human 
race with a Golden Age is corroborated by history, 
as well as by the Word and reason. 

It was expected that the study of egyptology 
would result in establishing evidence of a civili- 
zation declining in ratio to its antiquity. But 
what can be more surprising to such expectations 
than to discover the exact reverse ! The evidence 
is unmistakable that, more than four thousand 
years before Abraham, there was then a people 
not hewing rude implements out of stone, and 
immersed in savagery, but working in precious 
stones and gold with skill and art unsurpassed 
by the highest achievements of modern science. 
This shows a civilization then existing with tastes 
and culture since unexcelled. The periods sub- 

354 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN 



sequent show a declining civilization, indicated 
by less skilful and less artistic works. Though 
there is now no doubt that there was a most 
early, refined civilization, it is not necessary to 
assume that skill in manufacturing was a develop- 
ment contemporaneous with the first moral eleva- 
tion, for the knowledge and life essential to high 
moral attainment may exist apart from mechan- 
ical skill. 

The first civilization being a spiritual one, as 
the Word, reason, and history affirm, and as is 
shown by the universality and persistency of wor- 
ship as far back as investigation can be carried, 
it is evident that the spirit of that civilization 
would not be the development of external things, 
or the accumulation of natural riches, as it is to- 
day, but the development of the spiritual and the 
acquisition of spiritual riches, which are wisdom 
and love. It is evident that wisdom would 
relate to the laws and truths appertaining to the 
moral and spiritual elevation of man, and that 
that love would be the unselfish, altruistic love, 
such as is of God. The spirit of that early civili- 
zation, considering the state of man and his re- 
lation to the Creator, must have been the desire 
and endeavor to become an image and likeness 
of God through the acquisition of love and wisdom 
from Him; for then the spirit of God descended 

355 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



through clear atmospheres into the souls of His 
children. Indeed, it is not reasonable to suppose 
that the development of applied science com- 
menced until the decline from the first civiliza- 
tion began, and some considerable thought was 
being given to external and material things. The 
beginning of the development of the applied 
sciences marks the beginning of the decline of the 
first civilization rather than its commencement; 
and as the civilization declined morally, there 
became less knowledge of God and a falling away 
from the holiness and beauty of His love, and a 
consequent coarser taste, a decline in art, a turbu- 
lent state of society, and finally barbarism. 

Now, with the world's advancement in moral 
living, with the institution of spiritual standards, 
it is natural that there should again come the 
refinement of taste and the restoration of science 
adapted to the states of the world and to uses 
in society. 

However developed science may become, how- 
ever brilliantly mechanical genius may shine, 
it should be kept in mind that it borrows its 
light from the moral and spiritual sphere of the 
world, and that the true development of man is 
in the increase of the wisdom of life and the ac- 
quisition of such a kind of love as man's Creator 
has, upon which all true progress must rest. 

356 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HUMAN AND THE 
GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD. 



By Means Of The Incarnation, God, The 
Creator, Took Upon Himself The Discrete 
Degrees Of Creation That He Had 
Put Forth Beneath Himself. 

The assumption of the human and its glorifica- 
tion by the Lord is so important a part in the 
purpose of creation, that a general presentation 
of the theme in its relation to this discussion is 
indispensable. 

Let us first think of the Creator before the 
assumption of the Human as being completely 
above creation, as A, in Diagram III, p. i8i. 
The degrees in creation, indicated in Part I, He has 
put forth beneath Himself. These He fills with 
power by influx from Himself. So also the degrees 
of the Human Form, which are coincident with 
creation, are beneath Him. They are in Him 
only in potency. Consequently He has no access 
to any degree below the Inmost except by means 
of the next higher degree. 

357 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 

Therefore when man changed from the state of 
innocence in which he was created, by the open- 
ing of a lower plane of his life, there was no 
way that the Creator could come to him except 
through those who had preserved the primitive 
state of innocence, and had become angels, or 
through some finite human. To reach fallen man, 
God then used the htiman of an angel, through 
which He appeared, spoke, and instructed. Such 
a one is called "the angel of the Lord," which is 
exemplified many times in the Word. Thus 
Jehovah appeared to the Jews. Because Jehovah 
had not then clothed Himself with the glorified 
Human in which He now dwells, and by which 
He can approach and be seen, it was said " There 
shall no man see Me, and hve." 

Now it was God's purpose from the beginning 
of creation to take the degrees below Him upon 
Himself, so that He could reach creation in any 
degree not merely by mediate influx, but by im- 
mediate infitix. This design was the central pur- 
pose in assuming the Htmian, and it was fulfilled 
in the incarnation and the glorification of the 
Lord. The Creator having put forth a human 
form in the image of His own, it was possible 
for Him to clothe Himself with such a form. By 
means of the Virgin Mary as an idtimate and 
the spiritual world as an intermediate, He clothed 

358 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



Himself with The Human Form, Diagram IV., p. 
312. It was for this reason that the holy thing 
begotten of Mary was to be called the Son of God- 
Looking at the diagram, a definite conception can 
be obtained from this consideration, that the 
Inmost of man receives influx from God; the 
Inmost of the Christ was God. His name was 
therefore "Emanuel, which being interpreted is, 
God-with-us." 

When mankind first fell out of Divine order, 
the heaven of angels was God's only approach 
to them. Heaven was the mediator; that is, 
God's infinite love and wisdom was m^ediated and 
accommodated to fallen man by the heavens. 
God desired to become Himself the mediator. 
So He caused a human to be born, which should 
touch all the degrees in creation and be the 
means of immediate influx from Him to man. 
In taking upon Himself the human, which coin- 
cides with the planes of creation, He took upon 
Him creation itself. 

That human, like ours, was flesh and blood, 
which can not inherit the kingdom of heaven. 
He could not take the material body with Him 
into the spiritual world. He took the material 
body that He might glorify it, and then abide in 
it forever. 



359 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



By The Glorification The Creator Provided 
Himself With A Divine Human, Having 
In It Each Degree Of Created 
Life In Its Infinitude. 

Let us notice what the glorification was. In 
the material body there are discrete degrees of 
substance. Each discrete plane of it is a form 
having its own discrete degree of life. That is, 
the bones have a low order of life in them 
from which they grow and are repaired. The 
body has physical life, which gives it life on the 
fiesh-plane. The sensory plane of the body has 
a higher order of life, and the scientific plane a 
higher, and the rational plane a still higher kind 
of life; the spiritual part of man has also distinct 
planes of life. In assuming the human the Lord 
clothed Himself not only with a body like man's 
body, but also with a soul like man's soul. He took 
on the soul by descent through the planes of the 
spiritual world coincident with the human soul. 
He clothed that soul with a body from the Virgin 
Mary. Thereby He clothed Himself with all planes 
of himian life. Now the Lord glorified the himian 
assumed by perfecting first the soul, or spiritual 
part of that human ; then, as it became perfected, 
He dispersed the created spiritual substances, 
and put in this place uncreate substance from 

360 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



the Father within. The Lord glorified also the 
very material body. He did it in a similar way. 
He put the body in perfect form by fidfilling the 
laws of God on the respective planes of life, and 
then He gradually displaced the material sub- 
stance of the body with uncreate substance from 
within. He dispersed the created substances of 
both soul and body, but preserved, in the Divine 
Human put forth from His uncreate substance, 
the planes of life from the skin to the Inmost. 
He cast uncreate substance in the mould of 
the create body, and thereby provided Himself 
with a Divine Body coinciding with creation. 
So it was that He made the human assumed ''to 
have life in Himself even as the Father hath life 
in Himself." This was the grandest act in all 
time. Creation was more than reenacted in that 
event. 

God the Creator, invisible before the incarnation, 
may now be approached and seen in the glorified 
Human of Jesus Christ. This the Lord taught 
in saying, ''No man hath seen God at any time; 
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of 
the Father, He hath declared Him," "He that 
hath seen Me hath seen the Father," "The Father 
and I are one." God Himself is now seen in His 
glorified Humanity as He appeared to Peter, 
James, and John upon the Mount. Before the 

361 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



glorification there was a general influx from the 
Creator through heaven. This influx is called in 
the Word the spirit of holiness, but there v/as no 
Holy Spirit like that given after the glorification. 

The Holy Spirit Is The Influx Of Life From 
The Creator Through The Divine Human 
Provided By The Glorification. 

Having provided Himself with a Divine Human 
Body that is a Divine correlative of man's human, 
God no longer needs the body of an angel with 
which to approach man, for His infinite love and 
wisdom now flow down and out of the Divine 
Human into all the planes of man and of creation. 
Hence by the glorification there is a new influx 
into the world; an influx immediately from the 
Divine Human into the human of man in addition 
to the influx that comes from the Inmost down 
the discrete degrees of man's constitution. This 
is the Holy Spirit. And as that influx could not 
come before the human assumed was glorified, 
it is written "The holy spirit was not yet, for 
Jesus was not yet glorified." He then by the 
glorification and by the gift of the Holy Spirit 
became our Mediator, our Redeemer, our Regen- 
erator. When the human was glorified, the light 
of the sun of the spiritual world became the 
promised "seven-fold." This is the first cause of 

362 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



the changes that have come in the world since 
the glorification, and of all progress. 

The Lord does not operate from primes through 
intermediates into ultimates, but from primes 
through ultimates and thus into intermediates. 
Hence He is called in the Word the "First and 
the Last." When man, the ultimate, became 
perverted, and ceased to act with his Creator, the 
Creator clothed Himself with a human, and 
glorified it to its ultimate that He might operate 
and govern the world from primes through ulti- 
mates from Himself in ultimates, and not from 
man as before the glorification. Thus a way was 
provided for the salvation of mankind and for 
the institution of that promised kingdom whose 
increase shall know no end, which is now with 
us. To provide that ultimate in Himself, He 
glorified even the flesh and the bones. When man 
dies, the gross natural body is thrown off together 
with its planes of life, except as their effects are 
preserved in the Lirtibus. But the Lord glorified 
the entire natural body, and rose with all its 
degrees made Divine, for which reason He said, 
"A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me 
have." He is not only a Divine Spiritual Man, 
but also a Divine Natural Man, the only com- 
plete man, whereby He is beneath the heavens, 
and He sustains them from the Divine Natural, 

363 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



Divine Sensual, and Divine Corporeal in Him- 
self. ''The eternal God is thy refuge, and under- 
neath are the everlasting arms." 

No one can imderstand anything of the philos- 
ophy of the incarnation if he does not know that 
all power resides in ultima tes or outmosts, and 
that the Lord came into the world and glorified the 
himian assumed, thus making Himself Man, that 
He might be in ultimates or outmosts and in 
inmosts or firsts at the same time, so that through 
ultimates from firsts He might reduce all things 
to order in hell, heaven, and eventually in the 
wwld. Herein is the philosophy of the incarnation. 
When the Lord came upon the earth evil had so 
gained the ascendancy with man that no one could 
withstand it, and the hells were about to destroy 
the human race through the influx of evil. The 
Lord took upon Himself a human like ours that 
He might admit into it evils from the hells, and 
by meeting them on their own planes in that 
human, He subjugated the hells, reduced all 
things to order, and so redeemed mankind. At 
the same time He restored the assimied human 
to order, infilled it with the Divine, and glorified it. 
When the Lord came, there was not Divine truth in 
ultimates, for all truth there had become falsified, 
and there was no foundation for heaven or for the 
Lord's operation. So the Lord came into the 

364 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



world, and assumed an ultimate or outmost ; for if 
He had not, " no flesh could have been saved," and 
all would have perished in eternal death. But 
by taking on and glorifying the human, the Lord 
is now in ultimates as He is in firsts, and can save 
all who are in truths from the Word and obey 
them, for He is present and dwells in the ultimate 
truths of the Word because they are from Him. 
Hence He says of the one who ''hath My com- 
mandments and doeth them" that He ''will 
come unto him," and make His "abode with 
him." 

The Lord lifting man from death in sin to 
spiritual life by influx from His glorified Human 
into man, plane to correlative plane, is tenderly 
typified by the prophet Elisha when " He went up, 
and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon 
his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his 
hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself 
upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed 
warm.** 

The Trinity Is The Creator From Eternity, 
The Divine Human Taken On By The 
Glorification And The Holy Spirit. 

The human assumed, from Mary was the Son 
of man having man's heredity; and as it was 
glorified by temptation the term, "Son of man," 

365 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



is used in the Word in connection with temptation. 
The new Human put on from the uncreate sub- 
stance of God is the *'Son of God," which term is 
used in connection with states of victor}^ and 
peace. This brings before us the true conception 
of the Trinit}', which is, The Father from Eternity, 
the Son or the Divine Human of the Glorification, 
and the Holy Spirit, which came after the glorifica- 
tion. This is represented in man by the soul, the 
body, and his proceeding sphere. This conception 
of the Trinit}^, the "Word ever}^here teaches; 
and when it is clearly grasped, it reconciles the 
TTord to itself. Love, wisdom, and their use is 
a corresponding trinit\\ The trinit}' in man 
is afiection, thought, and act. Also soul, body, 
and out^'ard infiuence constitute a trinit}'. The 
relation between Father, Son, and the Holy 
Spirit is illustrated by the relation between love, 
wisdom, and their use; also by the relations of 
affection, thought, and act, and by end, cause, 
and effect; also b\' soul, body, and the pro- 
ceeding hfe. One is an illustration of the other 
in absolute perfection. The Father, Son, and 
the Holy Spirit are one just as the soul, the 
body, and the proceeding life are one; or just 
as affection, thought, and the proceeding act are 
one. 



3^ 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



The Glorification Of The Human Is The Perfect 
Example Of Man's Regeneration. 

The purpose of the assumption and the glorifi- 
cation of the human was that through the glori- 
fied Human the Heavenly Father might come 
closer to His children, and lift them up into more 
interior truth and life. The glorification was 
infinite regeneration. Or in reverse form, regen- 
eration is finite glorification. In other words, the 
glorification is an infinite pattern of man's regen- 
eration, or of the second birth. That this pattern 
might be brought in vivid picture to the knowl- 
edge of man, the visible work was for the benefit 
of ''them who stand by," and the Lord's tempta- 
tion and victories are recorded in the Word. 

The temptations of the Lord were real, for each 
plane of the mind assumed had to be glorified by 
acting as from itself according to truth, and so 
fulfilling the law. During the glorification, the 
seat of the will gradually descended from the 
highest plane of the mind to the lowest. As the 
seat of the will descended, the planes of the mind 
were successively put in order, and they were 
glorified by the substitution of uncreate substance 
from the Father within for the finite substances 
taken from creation without. The Father within 
was at all times above the possibility of temp- 

367 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



tation, for it is readily perceived that the Infinite 
does not admit of temptation. Temptation was 
possible mth the Lord before the glorification, 
for then He had two distinct planes of conscious- 
ness, one in the human assumed, into which He 
was let in times of temptation, and one in the 
Father within from whom there was deliverance 
and glorification. Man is regenerated by learning 
the truth, shunning that which is contrary to 
the truth, and by doing good from the recognition 
of the Lord. In other terms, man is regenerated 
by li\ing a life similar to the life that Jesus Hved, 
and bp which He was glorified. 

The Glorificatiox Of The Lord Effected Man's 
Redemption. 

!Man's redemption was not accomphshed in an 
arbitrar}^ way. Its philosophy is deeply seated 
in internal causes. When the hum.an family 
feU from the celestial plane whereon was the 
first civilization, they sank below the reach of 
immediate influx from the Creator. For, as we 
have previously shown, when life on the celestial 
plane ceased among micn upon the earth, the 
Creator used the heaven of angels as a human 
through which His influx was accommodated to 
the receptivity of a fallen people. The fall having 
commenced, it was inevitable that it would con- 

368 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 

tinue until the power of evil should be greater 
on earth than the power for good that could come 
through angels, unless something was done where- 
by the arm of God could not be shortened. Such 
a time came. The power of evil when the Lord 
came was about to become such that no man 
could withstand it. Influx from the hells was so 
strong that evil was in the ascendancy upon the 
earth; and if redemption by a superior power 
had not occurred, the human family would have 
destroyed itself, like the obsessed who cast them- 
selves into the fire, and who dwelt in the tombs. 
Now herein is the redemption. Jehovah the 
Creator assumed a human nature, and by per- 
mitting that human to be assaulted by the com- 
bined hells, He defeated and subdued the hells by 
Divine truth, and redeemed man. In subduing 
the hells He liberated man from the bondage of 
sin, and cast out evils, or the hells, as a ruling 
power, and put truth and love in the ascendancy 
and on the throne of the world. ''Now is the 
prince of this world cast out." "And I, if I be 
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto 
Me." 

Man's redemption now occurs by accepting 
this redemption, and by faith shunning evils and 
doing good in the acknowledgment of the fact 
that the Lord gives him strength to do so. By 

369 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



such faith the Lord is present in power, and by the 
operation of His Holy Spirit He regenerates and 
saves by lessening the desire for evils, removing 
them, and by giving happiness in loving and 
doing the truth. 

The Word Is Perpetually ExLiGHTENiNa And 
ExNOBLiNG Humanity. 

The Word from beginning to end at one time 
treats of the glorification of the Lord and of the 
regeneration of man. By histor\', song, story, 
fiction, fact, prayer, and symbol it forms imagery 
as a basis for true conceptions of spiritual reahties, 
and its Hteral sense contains the truth essential 
for the right government of the external Hfe. 
It continually shapes human thoughts after the 
pattern of spiritual forms wherein truths can 
operate and save. All human states and their 
relations to God are depicted in the Word. In 
this way the Word perpetually creates not only 
true conceptions of duty and of life's purposes, 
but also new hearts. The Word is not passing 
away as a sacred book, but silently it is weav- 
ing the entire fabric of enlightened thought, 
of forms of conception, of spiritual imagery, of 
ideals, and of faith, hope, and Hfe. As the Word 
is obeyed, the External Mind is brought into 
Correspondence with the Internal Mind and with 

370 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 



the Divine Humanity, and wisdom and love flow 
in conjoining man to the Lord. 

Having developed the principles appertaining 
to degrees, influx, and ultimates, this general 
statement may be made in regard to the Word. 
We can not communicate our affections and 
thoughts without ultimate signs or words. That 
the Lord might communicate His affections and 
thoughts to mankind. He formed a vehicle from 
man's language, ideas, and words, which consti- 
tute the letter of the Word; and He so formed it 
from correspondences and representatives that 
it has as its internal sense, the truth and life 
of heaven, and the Lord Himself is its inmost. 
The Lord thereby is in the ktter of the Word as an 
ultimate in fulness, power, and holiness. Power 
and life pass from Him to its spirit, and thence 
to the letter of the Word just as affection passes to 
thought and thence to act. The spirit of the Lord, 
and hence the Lord Himself, is in the letter of the 
Word and operates it as the soul is in the body 
and operates it. The letter of the Word is thus 
in Correspondence with the Divine Humanity, 
whereby the Word is God. Therefore the Lord 
said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are 
spirit, and they are life." 

Because the Word is in fulness and power in 
the ultimate letter, it has power on higher planes ; 

371 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



but when the letter is rejected as not containing 
the Divine, the Word has no power with man, 
it becoming simply history or classics. In the 
regenerating, influx from the Lord passes first 
into the perception, which is of the understanding ; 
thence, to the will; and lastly, into the act or 
use, where it ceases: then there is reception, 
which is the reciprocal of influx, and man appro- 
priates goodness and truth from the Lord, and is 
blessed. "If ye know these things, happy are 
ye if ye do them." 

The law of the Divine operation may be ex- 
pressed also in this form. Since the Lord is in the 
letter of the Word with all fulness and power 
as His ultimate, and since man is likewise in his 
acts as his ultimate, the Lord is present in man 
with His life, and regenerates him as he obeys 
the laws expressed in the letter of the Word. 
" If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
ments." 

The Sole Object Of Life In The World Is To 
Accomplish Regeneration For The 
Perfection Of The Love Of Use 
And Its Blessings. 

It has been shown how the senses are first 
developed that through the senses scientifics 

372 



THE GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD 

may be procured; and how by scientifics, reason 
is to be developed, and rational truth and life 
acquired. Then through rational truth and life 
spiritual-natural truth and life are obtained; and 
then through these, spiritual truth and life; and 
lastly through these, celestial love. In this 
series, the lower serve as vessels receptive of influx 
by which the next higher are brought forth. We 
have shown how, by obedience to the law of our 
creation, celestial love or love of the Lord develops 
in man as the fruit of his being, just as by branches, 
leaves, and flowers, a tree bears fruit. The proc- 
ess of continually advancing in the quality 
and degree of truth and love is regeneration. 
They who perfect themselves in the highest 
degree, and finish the work, are regenerated. 
From this substantial basis of reality, regeneration 
is a real process fixed in the substance and form 
of the spirit; and religion, considered as the 
knowledge of and a life according to the law by 
which regeneration takes place, is a definite 
science, the science of all sciences. The destiny 
of man is that he shall know this science; work 
out its results in himself; finish the work of this 
life by opening the interior planes of his being, 
and then enter into the spiritual world, in close 
presence to His Creator, who will then fill him 
with His spirit, and bring to his daily life the 

373 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CREATION 



unspeakable blessings of the heavenly kingdom, 
for which all men are created. In the knowledge 
and love of God the Creator and Lord, the end 
of creation is fulfilled. I am Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the end, the first and the 
last," "The Amen." 



The End 



374 



INDEX. 



A 

Adhesion, 226. 

Afifection, life, 84-90; love, 
91-93 ; thought, 99 ; power, 
139-142; limbus, 170; 
forces, 254-8. See also un- 
der Love. 

Air, 117-18; 148. 

Animals, soul, 264-9; life, 
276; origin of kinds, 290; 
in seed, 300; offshoots, 
337 ; at birth, 343. 

Ape, house-building, 9; an- 
thropoid, 17; development, 
24; parts added, 26. 

Atmosphere, 148-51; 180; 
190 ; 207. 

Atomicity, 225. 

Attraction, 223. 

Aura, 119; 148; 222. 

B 

Birthmarks, 337. 

Body, like nature, 137; activ- 
ities in, 138-42; 154; 176; 
180; 181; 188; at death, 
200; 211; forces in, 254-7; 
degrees of, 311-14; what, 
321 ; separable, 330-3 ; from 
mother, 334. 

Brain, 115; force in, 255. 



C 

Capillarity, 225. 
Causes, in spiritual world, 
124.^ 

Chemical affinity, 224. 

Christ, claims of, 76. See 
also under God. 

Civilization, not evolution, 
24; from revelation, 53; 
Mohammedan, 54; Jewish, 
54; the first, 349-56. 

Cohesion, 226. 

Color, 214. 

Conductors, 214. 

Correspondence, theory of, 3 ; 
cause of resemblance, 25; 
consistent, 46; not hypo- 
thetical, 47; method, 47-8; 
begins with, 76; what, 116; 
activity from, 125 ; illus- 
trated, 129; Grand Man, 
132; life from, 137; in 
body and soul, 145-6; 
arises, 195 ; in the senses, 
196-200 ; force from, 256-7 ; 
forms body, 275-7; what, 
293 ; in plants and animals, 
294-9; shows, 303. 

Creation, from Creator, 76; 
form, 147; order, 187; 
process, 194; first forms, 
278-87; spontaneous, 287; 

75 



INDEX. 



Creation {Continued) 

order of, 291 ; in seeds, 
302 ; permanent, 304~9 ; 
purpose of, 327. 

Creationists, 2 ; abandoned, 4. 

Creator, see under God. 

D 

Death, illustrated, 331. 

Degrees, kinds, 105-10; order 
of, 111-13; relation of, 
113-15; of matter, 117-21; 
of spiritual world, 123-5; 
in nature and body, 137 ; of 
creation, 146-51 ; Hmbus, 
172; illustrated, 179-86; 
how created, 194; fixed, 
195; of body, 311-14; of 
spiritual body, 314; of 
mind, 315-20. 

Development, distinguished, 
19-24 ; reverse of evolu- 
tion, 23-4. 

Divine Selection, 16. 

E 

Electricity, 91 ; 119; in body, 
183-4 ; what, 227-35 ; 248. 

Ether, 91; 118; 148; activ- 
ity of, 227; 233; 234; 235. 
See also under Electricity. 

Evolution, what, i ; qualified, 
4; injurious, 5; theory of, 
6; mistakes of, 6-8; nulli- 
fied, 8-1 1; defaults, 10-12; 
in Prologue, 12; not oper- 
ative, 16-19; non-existent, 



Evolution {Continued) 

19-23 ; opposite of develop- 
ment, 24 ; unmodifiable, 
26-8; conclusions of, 29- 
34; true character, 34-8; 
use of, 38-40; contrary to 
Correspondence, 47 ; ap- 
parent truth, 48; truths re- 
versed, 52; religion not 
from, 59-62; origin, 201- 
3 ; negates Correspond- 
ence, 302. 

F 

Faculties, of soul, 69. 

Flora, of Egypt, 18. 

Force, in Creator, 79; origin, 
121-3; in body, 139-42; in 
universe, 188-91 ; as in- 
flux, 192 ; unknown, 201 ; 
what, 217; origin, 218-22; 
relation of, 236 ; kinds, 243 ; 
transformation, 246; trans- 
ference, 247 ; generation, 
247; origin, 249; not con- 
vertible, 251 ; in body, 254- 
7; voluntary and involun- 
tary, 257; creative, 279-86; 
in plants and animals, 293. 

G 

Glorification, of the Lord, 
360-70. 

God, non-revealable to sen- 
ses, 49; worship of, 56; 
must reveal Himself, 57; 
knowable, 58-9; in Christ, 



INDEX. 



God ( Continued) 
62-4; the Word, 64-5; 
how known, 69-72; what, 
76; law in, 77; quality in, 
78; force and substance, 
79; intelligence in, 80; 
life in, 83-90; attributes, 
91-3 ; Person, Human, 
Man, 93 ; eternal, 94 ; in- 
finite, omnipotent, 95; om- 
niscient, self-existing. Di- 
vine Human, God-Man, 96; 
Person, 97; form, 98; 
essence, 100; shape, loi ; 
causes in, 125-7; in soul, 
144; influx from, 148-51; 
Creator, 168; acts how, 178; 
influx from, 148-51 ; Crea- 
tor, 168; acts how, 178; 
180 ; as a sun, 188-91 ; in- 
most, 2^6-7 ; volition in, 
289 ; form, 292 ; 321 ; in- 
carnation, 357-359; glorifi- 
cation, 360-70. 

Grand Man, 129-33. 

Gravity, 91 ; 119; 222. 

H 

Heat, 203 ; origin, 205 ; 

sun's, 207. 
Heaven, as one, 131 ; how 

formed, 317-322. 
Hell, 322-6. 
Holy Spirit, 150; 362. 
Hybrids, 8; 335-6. 

I 



Incarnation, 357-70. 

Influx, determined by, 127; 
in nature, 138; in soul, 
144; 146; 151; 180; forms 
of, 186; process, 191; 
operation, 192; correspond- 
ence, 195 ; transformation, 
196; 206; 207; 251. 

Inmost, 143; 165-8; 177; 
178; 181; 186; 188; 190; 
265 ; 266; 320; 321. 

Intelligence, in God, 80-3. 

Intermediate World, 326. 

J 

Jesus, see under Christ. 
Jews, see under Civilization. 

L 

Law, 77. 

Life, in God, 83 ; what, 84- 
90; of brain, 86; of body, 
88; in love, 89; influence 
of, 177; where, 237; of 
plants, 269-75; use, 372. 

Light, 210-13. 

Limbus, 168-175; 311; 314- 
15. 

Lord, see under God. 

Love, life, 89 ; substance, 91 ; 
creates, 100; origin, 128; 
of body, 137; source of 
powers, 139-42 ; produces 
wisdom, 188; force, 218. 

M 



Images, worship of, 60-2. Magnetism, 235. 

377 



INDEX. 



Man, distinct class, 26; 

Grand Man, 129-33 ; micro- 
cosm, 135-7; difference in, 
178; differs from animal, 
264-68; classes, 290; at 
creation, 300 ; immortal, 
307; form, 310-321; des- 
tiny, ZV-ZZ ; microcosm, 
338-9; free agent, 343; 
purpose of, 346-9; develop- 
ment of, 346-56; regenera- 
tion, 367. 

Materialists, what, i ; theory 
of, I ; inconsistent, 57 ; re- 
sults of, 201-2. 

Matter, inert, 86; what, 239- 
42; 260; soul, 262. 

Mind, 154-8; 159-65; 177; 
178; 180-5; 186; 190; 219; 
315-20; 321. 

Miracles, 339-42. 

Mohammedan, see under 
Civilization. 

Motion, 217. 

N 

Natural Selection, not appli- 
cable, 10-12; applicable, 
12-16; in Prologue, 12. 

Nature, forces, 121-3; like 
body, 137; activity, 138. 

O 

Osmosis, 226. 

P 

Philosophy, herein, 3; what, 

41-6; Swedenborg, 72-5. 
Phosphorescence, 235. 



Pigeons, 19; varieties, 21-3. 
Plan, unity of, 147; 179; 235. 
Plants, soul, 259-75; life, 
276; variety, 290; formed 
t>y, 293 ; Correspondence 
in, 295 ; seed, 300 ; crossing, 
337. 

Procreation, 173; 334. 
R 

Radiation, 214. 
Reason, use, 58. 
Redemption, 368; 372; 364; 

365; 368-72. 
Regeneration, 367; 373. 
Religion, one with science, 
44 ; science of, 45 ; what, 
46; of pagans, 60; Chris- 
tian, 62. 
Reproduction, 299. 
Resemblance, 25. 
Revelation, necessary, 49 ; 
fundamental to science, 50- 
3 ; basis of civilization, 53- 
7 ; faculties addressed, 57-9 ; 
falsified, 59-61 ; of Chris- 
tian religion, 62-4; of God, 
70; tests of, 71. 

S 

Science, 41-6 ; investigation 
by, 49; in the Word, 50-3; 
materialistic, 201. 
Senses, limitation of, 49; 
154; 165; what, 196-200; 
212. 
Sex, 335. 

378 



INDEX. 



Sight, 2I0-II. 

Soul, substance of, 123 ; form, 
134; likeness, 136; life of, 
142-3; how vivified, 144-6; 
what, 152; degrees of, 153- 
8; planes of, 176; under a 
sun, 188; of natural forms, 
259-64; of animals, 265-9; 
of plants, 269-75 > forms 
body, 275-7; degrees, 314- 
21 ; what, 321 ; permanent, 
331; from father, 334. 

Space, 214-16. 

Sun, uses, 121; actuates, 147; 
150; 151; 186; agent, 194; 
activity, 207 ; permanent, 
208. 

Supernaturalists, what, i ; 

classes, 2. 
Survival of Fittest, 10-16. 
Survival of Useful, 16. 
Swedenborg, 72-74. 

T 

Theories, i. 

Thought, 84-90; 99; 170; 254. 
Time, 214-16. 
Trinity, 365. 



U 

Ultimates, power in, 113-16; 

173; 178; 192-3; 222; 236; 

238; 261 ; 363-4; 371-2. 
Use, 292; 304-10. 
Understanding, in matter, 

129; sensation, 213; in 

atom, 261. 

V 

Variety, 290. 

W 

Water, 117. 

Will, in matter, 129; sensa- 
tion, 213 ; in atom, 261 ; 
Divine, 289-90. 

Wisdom, origin, 128. 

Word, is God, 64; how 
formed, 65 ; what, 66-8 ; 
tests of, 69. 

World, will endure, 304; In- 
termediate, 326. 

Worship, what, 56 ; of images, 
60-2. 



379 



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